The daughter of a Chinese medical researcher condemned to death on charges that he spied for Taiwan said yesterday that her father had not received a fair trial and should not be executed.
Ran Chen said her family was told on Nov. 18 that the Supreme People’s Court had approved the execution of Wo Weihan (伍維漢), who was convicted last year of spying.
Chen said family members were told to arrange to see him as soon as possible, usually a sign of pending execution.
She said she feared the execution could take place as early as today, when the family has arranged to see Wo at Beijing’s Intermediate People’s Court.
“We don’t know what will happen,” Chen said.
The court said yesterday it did not have any information on Wo’s case.
Chen, an Austrian citizen pursuing graduate studies in Berkley, California, said Wo was convicted mainly on the basis of a confession that he later recanted. She said the scant evidence brought by prosecutors never proved the spying charges.
A copy of Wo’s conviction said his alleged crimes included revealing the health status of an unnamed high-ranking Chinese official. China considers information about the health of leaders to be a state secret.
Wo was also convicted of passing on data about missile control systems, information Chen said had been published in a magazine and was only later classified as secret.
Wo was accused of passing the information through a middle man to a group linked to the Taiwanese intelligence agencies.
Amnesty International called on authorities to block the execution.
“Available information suggests that Wo Weihan did not receive a fair trial according to international standards,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia Pacific director.
Trained as a medical researcher, Wo ran a medical equipment supply company on the outskirts of Beijing and frequently traveled abroad. He was detained in January 2005, but not permitted to see a lawyer until a year later.
Wo has been held in a prison hospital since March 2005, shortly after suffering a brain hemorrhage.
He was sentenced to death by the Beijing court in May last year after a closed trial.
His appeal was denied on Feb. 29 this year and his sentence automatically forwarded to the Supreme Court for approval.
Although courts have been ordered to apply the death penalty for only the most egregious crimes, China remains the world’s leading executioner of prisoners, including many convicted for nonviolent crimes.
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
A Vietnamese migrant worker yesterday won NT$12 million (US$379,627) on a Lunar New Year scratch card in Kaohsiung as part of Taiwan Lottery Co’s (台灣彩券) “NT$12 Million Grand Fortune” (1200萬大吉利) game. The man was the first top-prize winner of the new game launched on Jan. 6 to mark the Lunar New Year. Three Vietnamese migrant workers visited a Taiwan Lottery shop on Xinyue Street in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (崗山), a store representative said. The player bought multiple tickets and, after winning nothing, held the final lottery ticket in one hand and rubbed the store’s statue of the Maitreya Buddha’s belly with the other,
RSS