Hara Takashi
However, as with the previous Public Safety Preservation Law of 1894, the Public Order and Police Law of 1900 was used to suppress political dissent. In 1920, professor Morito Tatsuo of Tokyo Imperial University was prosecuted for publishing an article critical of the anarchist Peter Kropotkin (in which Morito discussed anarchist ideas). Morito spent three months in jail on charges of treason. His case set a precedent in Japanese law that effectively criminalized the discussion of ideas. The government's clampdown on dissent further intensified after the 1921 assassination of Prime Minister Hara Takashi.