The Hong Kong Court of First Instance granted on Thursday leave to apply for judicial review to dismissed Hong Kong teacher Toffee Tam Yuk-fun. Tam was previously dismissed as a teacher by Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan in July over posting allegedly improper statements on Facebook during the 2019 anti-government protests. She was found to have brought the Hong Kong government into disrepute and fallen below the standards of a teacher during disciplinary proceedings last year.

The court found Tam’s application for leave was reasonably arguable in considering the written submissions of her legal counsel. While Tam’s application for leave to apply for judicial review did not reveal the specific comments she made that led to her dismissal, Tam was accused of inciting hatred towards police officers through posting malicious comments about their families and them on Facebook.

Tam’s legal counsel asserted that she did not intend or cause her comments on Facebook to be publicized as she had posted on Facebook privately and her comments were disseminated without her permission. In addition, they contended that there was insufficient evidence to prove that Tam’s statements impeded her professional abilities and that her termination intruded upon her right to freedom of expression and privacy.

According to Hong Kong’s Education Bureau, more than 77 percent of reports that alleged professional misconduct of teachers were associated with the 2019 anti-government protests. Since the protests in 2019, three teachers have been dismissed and sentenced to prison. Another teacher was dismissed for employing a substantial amount of biased teaching materials related to the protests.