China: Statement on Dr Yang Hengjun’s suspended death sentence being upheld

CPJP is deeply alarmed by recent reports from Dr Yang Hengjun’s supporters that Beijing's High People's Court upheld his suspended death sentence, handed down in February 2024. We sincerely hope that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took the opportunity of Premier Li Qiang’s visit to Australia this week to raise Dr Yang’s case.

Dr Yang is a Chinese-born Australian who was detained on espionage charges at Guangzhou airport in January 2019. As a pro-democracy writer, spy novelist and political commentator, his work actively critiques China and calls for the country’s political development towards a more democratic system. Dr Yang’s supporters have previously described his suspended death sentence as ‘political persecution’ and stated that he was ‘subjected to hundreds of instances of torture and has never received any semblance of due process.’

Before his conviction, Dr Yang was held in a detention centre for five years on vague charges. As a result of his long imprisonment, his health has significantly declined, and Dr Yang currently suffers from a large cyst on one of his kidneys which has caused both his quality of life and his ability to walk to deteriorate. Concerns have been raised by his friends and family regarding his ‘serious and unaddressed’ medical condition.

We call for immediate action from the Australian Government to bring Dr Yang home and reiterate his supporters’ hope that the Prime Minister ‘use[d] his meeting with Premier Li Qiang to directly demand that Yang be released on medical parole or otherwise be transferred to safety in Australia’.