Dozens of New Zealand academics, human rights workers and intellectuals have written an open letter to prime minister Jacinda Ardern urging her to protect the safety of a China academic who has been subjected to a year of burglaries and harassment. Anne-Marie Brady, an expert in Chinese politics at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, had her home and office burgled in February, and her car sabotaged this month.
Brady says she became a target after the release of a paper on Chinese foreign influence last year. The 29 signatories to the letter said they had been “shocked and disturbed” by the incidents against Brady, and “academics must be able to work without fear”. “Attempts to intimidate and harass one academic in New Zealand have implications for the freedoms of all the others – and indeed, for the freedoms of all who live here.”
