An Australian academic jailed in China on espionage charges fears he will die in prison if he does not receive medical treatment, his friends said yesterday.
Chinese-born Australian Yang Jun (楊軍) has been jailed in China since 2019, accused of spying in a closed trial that was heavily criticized by human rights groups.
Yang’s ailing health has been caused by a large cyst growing on his kidney, which has come to the attention of Australian diplomats who have visited him in detention.
Photo: REUTERS
“If something happens with my health and I die in here, people outside won’t know the truth,” he said in a note shared with friends and supporters. “If something happens to me, who can speak for me?”
Political scientist Feng Chongyi (馮崇義), who was detained and questioned by Chinese authorities in 2017, said he had grown increasingly concerned about his friend’s health.
“These prisons, or detention centers, are unable to provide decent medical treatment,” Feng said. “It deeply worries me. When they talk about having a major operation to remove the cyst, that may endanger his life.”
Yang, who denies the spying claims, was arrested on a rare trip back to China in January 2019. The writer and academic — who also goes by his pen name Yang Hengjun (楊恒均) — has previously told supporters he was tortured at a secret detention site and fears forced confessions could be used against him.
His closed-door trial was heard in Beijing in mid-2021, with Yang still awaiting the verdict.
A spokesperson for Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong (黃英賢) yesterday said that the government in Canberra had “deep concerns” about the “ongoing delays in his case.”
“Chinese judicial authorities are handling the case in strict accordance with the law ... and are fully respecting and protecting the consular rights of the Australian side, including visits,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) said.
Canberra’s improved relationship with Beijing has ignited a renewed push to free Yang as well as jailed Australian journalist Cheng Lei (成蕾), who also faces vague espionage charges.
Cheng described her bleak prison conditions in a note dictated to Australian officials from her cell.
“I miss the sun,” read the message, described as a “love letter” to Australia.
“In my cell, the sunlight shines through the window but I can stand in it for only 10 hours a year,” she wrote.
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