A Chinese international student who attended pro-democracy protests in Sydney has allegedly been sentenced to six years in prison after returning to China in December 2024, with his family claiming he was charged with secession. The student, enrolled at the University of Sydney, lost contact with friends and employers in January 2025, and his family says they were not provided a copy of the court judgment following a trial held ahead of China's introduction of a new ethnic unity law. Human rights groups are urging the Australian government and universities to strengthen protections for international students engaging in lawful political activity, warning that Beijing has increasingly shifted its enforcement focus to overseas activists following waves of emigration after the 2022 "white paper" protests (a wave of rare public demonstrations against strict Covid lockdowns that marked China's largest youth-led protests since Tiananmen Square in 1989).