Australian Citizen Waives Death Sentence Appeal in China

Yang Hengjun, author and former Chinese diplomat, who is now an Australian citizen, is pictured in an unspecified location in Tibet, China on July, 2014 in this social media image obtained by Reuters. Reuters

Australian citizen Yang Hengjun will not appeal a suspended death sentence handed down by Beijing, his family revealed, saying it would be “detrimental to his welfare.”

His family believes the process could delay access to supervised medical care.

Mr. Yang is an Australian citizen born in China. He was a pro-democracy blogger and spy novelist, who was working in New York before his arrest at Guangzhou airport in 2019 on suspicion of espionage, based on an allegation made in 1994.

Before being detained he posted comments critical of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on social media. He also wrote about Beijing and U.S. politics, and was a visiting scholar at Columbia University.

After five years in detention in Beijing and three years after his closed-door trial, a court this month handed down a suspended death sentence, shocking family, supporters, and the Australian government.

The sentence gives the accused a two-year reprieve from being executed, after which it is automatically converted to life imprisonment.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the sentence as an “outrage,” and Foreign Minister Penny Wong said it would harm people-to-people ties with China.

Mr. Yang’s family said in a statement that the writer had decided to waive his legal right to appeal since there were no grounds to believe the court could remedy “the injustice of his sentence.” Chinese courts have a conviction rate of 99.9 percent and acquittals are rare.

“Commencing an appeal would only delay the possibility of adequate and supervised medical care, after five years of inhumane treatment and abject medical neglect,” the statement said.

In August last year, medical authorities discovered a 10 centimetre cyst on his kidney.

“The absurdity of the 30-year-old espionage accusations, that have been dredged up against him, speaks to the prosecution’s failure to extract any kind of confession,” the family said.

They described him as “an Australian political prisoner who has been sentenced to death because of his writings in support of individual freedoms, constitutional democracy and rule-of-law.”

Mr. Yang has consistently maintained his innocence. His family emphasised that his decision to forgo an appeal “in no way changes that fact.”

“I have broken no laws, and I can withstand the judgement of … the public, conscience, history, and time,” he wrote to friends before his sentencing.

Although the details of the case have not been officially released, a long-time friend of the writer, Feng Chongyi, said the verdict read in court alleged he had given secrets to Taiwan in 1994. Mr.  Yang worked for the CCP’s Ministry of State Security for a decade, starting in 1989, before resigning and moving to Australia.

Supporters have urged the Australian prime minister and Minister Wong to increase pressure on Beijing to release Mr. Yang early.

“It is difficult to imagine a return to normal, healthy bilateral relations while an Australian political prisoner languishes in a Beijing jail,” they wrote.

In response, Senator Wong said the Australian government will continue to advocate for him “at the highest levels.”

“We will continue to press for Dr. Yang’s interests and well-being, and provide consular assistance to him,” she said.