More than 400 academics from all over the world have signed an open letter condemning the Chinese regime’s decision to sanction a British scholar for her criticisms of the regime’s abuse of Uyghur Muslims. Dr. Joanne Smith Finley, a China expert at Newcastle University, was among the nine British citizens sanctioned by Beijing on March 26 for speaking out against the Chinese regime’s human rights violations in Xinjiang. “Beijing’s sanctioning of Dr. Joanne Smith Finley is a threat to universities’ core principle of academic freedom,” the academics said in the open letter, which was published by The Times of London on Monday. The letter said Beijing’s “unprecedented step” matters for three reasons. “First, the Chinese Communist Party has long used covert attempts to silence critics outside its territory, but these overt new measures against academics are a serious escalation. “Second, it reflects a misunderstanding of British universities. They are not …