Hong Kong university expels student who called for fire accountability
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People laying flowers outside Wang Fuk Court on Dec 1, 2025, and paying their respects to the victims of a fire that broke out there on Nov 26
PHOTO: AFP
HONG KONG – A Hong Kong university student who had called for accountability over a deadly fire in the city
Miles Kwan, a politics student, was detained for two nights by the city’s national security police in 2025 for “seditious intent” after handing out fliers calling for an independent probe into a fire that killed 168 people in November
After he was released on bail, his school, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), conducted a disciplinary review and referred the case to a student discipline committee.
The committee decided to terminate his studies on Feb 12 because of “multiple acts of misconduct”, according to a letter from the university obtained by AFP.
CUHK said in a statement on Feb 13 that it would not comment on individual cases, adding that a student who is given three demerits owing to disciplinary actions may have his studies at the university terminated.
Kwan, 24, told AFP that the university did not penalise him for the arrest in November 2025.
He said he received demerits for calling the committee a “kangaroo panel” and a “disgrace”, and for being charged with “criminal damage” in 2023 after he placed stickers on lamp posts in 2022 to mark the anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown.
Kwan said he had completed his studies and was set to graduate in March.
“It is shameful of CUHK to use graduation certificates to suppress its former students,” he said in a statement. “You can take away qualifications, but you can’t take away dignity.”
He was among several people behind a petition issued after the fire that broke out in high-rise towers of Wang Fuk Court housing estate in November, the world’s deadliest residential building fire since 1980.
The petition called for government officials to be held accountable, an independent probe into possible corruption, proper resettlement for residents and a review of construction oversight.
The Chinese city’s authorities have formed a judge-led “independent committee”
