By Tony Royden-
An Australian writer detained in China for 19 months is being treated unlawfully.
Yang Hengjun was arrested at Guangzhou airport in January last year and later accused of spying – charges never proven and denied by him and the Australian government. No evidence has been provided to support the charges and he has been denied access to a lawyer through out his detention until very recently.
Australian officials have previously said Dr Yang has faced daily questioning in shackles, without a trial. Chinese reports that he has confessed to espionage has been vigorously denied by the writer. This evidences the dictatorship regime of the Chinese government, the same country from which the coronavirus was spread.
“I am innocent and will fight to the end,” he said in a message passed on by relatives.
“I will never confess to something I haven’t done,” he said.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called the allegations “absolutely untrue” and said officials had lobbied China for his release.
China’s foreign ministry has told Australia to not interfere in the case, and to respect the nation’s “judicial sovereignty”. A sovereignty not itself respectful of the rule of law which fundamentally requires evidence to justify the fairness of any decision.
Former Diplomat
Mr Yang is a former Chinese diplomat who became a scholar and novelist. He gained Australian citizenship in 2002 but was most recently based in New York.
Nicknamed “the democracy peddler”, Dr Yang maintained a blog on the country’s current affairs and international relations, but he had not been directly critical of Chinese authorities in recent years.
Hengjun has blogged about political issues in China. After travelling to China last year with his wife Yuan Ruijuan and her child, he was arrested at the airport where he was separated from his beloved family
.Beijing has held him for alleged “involvement in criminal activities endangering China’s national security”. Dr Yang was permitted to see his lawyer for the first time, Australian media reported.
“I had not heard from him for so long – I wondered whether he was still with us,” Ms Yuan told the Special Broadcasting Service.
“The lawyer’s confirmation of the meeting has given me some comfort but the situation is not good. I do not know a lot – there is a lot the lawyers are not permitted to tell me.”
BBC reporters revealed that only last month another Australian, TV presenter Cheng Lei, was taken into secret detention in China. The reason was not yet clear, Australian officials said this week.
Image:abc.net.au