Taiwan-born US Navy Lieutenant Commander Edward Lin (林介良), who is accused of spying for Taipei, never committed espionage and was entrapped by the FBI, according to his defense lawyer.
New information on the case emerged last week when navy prosecutors released recordings from closed-door legal proceedings conducted last month.
They said Lin, 39, last year became the target of a sting operation after counter-espionage agents became suspicious of his actions.
They set up Lin to meet with a Mandarin-speaking FBI informant, who was posing as a Taiwanese official.
A military prosecutor, US Navy Commander Johnathan Stephens, said that Lin met with the informant between Aug. 25 and Sept. 9 last year and shared classified information.
Lin was arrested on Sept. 11 last year at Honolulu International Airport and interrogated for 11 hours over two days.
According to prosecutors, Lin confessed to being a spy during the interrogation.
Lin was employed in a secret US Navy division dealing with reconnaissance aircraft used to gather information about China.
Attorney Larry Younger, representing Lin, said that his client did not have legal counsel during questioning and was not read his statement of rights.
As a result, Lin’s alleged confession could not be used in evidence against him, Younger said.
Younger also said that so-called classified documents found in Lin’s home were readily available online and thus not secret.
Younger said Lin spoke with the FBI informant, but that he simply repeated “talking points” used by the US Navy when dealing with Taiwanese officials.
Younger said there was no intent or attempt to aid a foreign government.
“There are signs that the case against Lin could fall apart,” the Daily Beast Web site reported last week.
Commander of US Fleet Forces Admiral Philip Davidson is now in charge of the case and is expected to decide soon whether Lin should face a court martial, be tried before a civilian court, or if the charges should be dropped.
Lin has been charged with two counts of espionage, three counts of attempted espionage and five counts of communicating defense information. He is also accused of committing adultery with a prostitute — an offense for a military officer.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS