Newsflash: Yang Hengjun’s death sentence
PEN International joins the undersigned PEN Centres in condemning the handing down of a suspended death sentence to Australian writer Yang Hengjun, five years after he was detained and accused of espionage. According to a statement published by Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong, the death sentence can be commuted to life imprisonment after a two-year period of “good behaviour”: https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/media-release/sentencing-dr-yang-jun.
On 5 February 2024, reports emerged that Yang Hengjun had been given a suspended death sentence by a local court in China. The sentencing takes place over two and a half years after his trial took place behind closed doors, raising significant concerns regarding Yang Hengjun’s right to a fair trial and the principle of judicial transparency. The court’s judgement was delayed on numerous occasions, compounding the injustice that Yang has been subjected to.
“This is a shocking, unacceptable outcome of a flawed, opaque judicial process in which a writer has been denied his basic human rights of representation and a fair trial. We stand in solidarity with Yang Hengjun and call on the PRC government to end its assault on freedom of expression.” said Ma Thida, Chair of PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee.
There are grave concerns for his health and ability to receive adequate healthcare while detained. He has a large cyst on his kidney and has been kept in solitary confinement for large parts of his time in prison.
In light of the serious procedural issues surrounding his trial and the unsubstantiated allegations made against him, we call on the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to quash Yang Hengjun’s conviction and for his immediate and unconditional release. We also call on the Australian authorities to petition more forcefully for his release.
Signed:
· PEN International
· Independent Chinese PEN Centre
· PEN Melbourne
· PEN Perth
· PEN Sydney
For further information please contact Chris McKenzie, President PEN Melbourne, email: president@penmelbourne.org
Yang Hengjun is an Australian novelist, scholar and political commentator who is committed to the advancement of human rights and greater freedoms in China. His trilogy of spy novels, known as the Fatal Weakness series, is centred on the fictional escapades of a double agent working for both the US and PRC government intelligence agencies. The series is reportedly banned in the PRC but has been shared widely online among Chinese diasporas.
His blog posts have garnered a significant following on Chinese social media, and dozens of his articles were later translated into English and published on The Diplomat. Common themes in his writing are the virtues of democratic values, the need for greater understanding between China and the United States, and his personal awakening to the problematic aspects of autocratic rule, earning him the nickname ‘Democracy Peddler’ among his followers.
In January 2019, Yang reportedly flew with his wife and child from the United States to China where he was then detained by the PRC government’s security services. He was initially held at a secret location for six months in a notorious form of extrajudicial detention called Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location, where Yang was reportedly tortured. In August 2019 Yang was formally arrested on suspicion of espionage without any evidence supporting the charge disclosed to his family or consular representatives.
Throughout his over two years of pre-trial detention, Yang was denied family visits and was granted limited access to legal counsel and consular visits. He was reportedly subjected to over 300 interrogations and his request for the dismissal of testimony he gave under torture was denied by the PRC government.
On 27 May 2021, Yang’s trial was held behind closed doors and reportedly lasted less than seven hours, with his consular representatives denied the ability to attend, a breach of both the Vienna Convention and the Australia-China bilateral consular agreement.
Prior to the commencement of his trial, Yang Hengjun shared his hope that he would be able to continue writing ‘to help China to understand the world’ in a message he had transcribed while detained. When considering the trial’s potential outcome, Yang Hengjun said:
‘If worse comes to worst, if someone wants to take revenge on me for my writings, please explain to the people inside China what I did, and the significance of my writing to people in China. The values and beliefs which we shared, and which I shared with my readers, are something bigger than myself.’
Upcoming event: Spotlight on Palestine
Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2024 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM AWST
Location: Centre for Stories (100 Aberdeen Street Northbridge, WA 6003)
Facilitator: Rashida Murphy
In November, PEN International condemned the arbitrary arrest of young Palestinian writer Ahed Tamimi from her house in the occupied West Bank, and called on the Israeli authorities to end their arbitrary arrests and detention of Palestinians, and to unconditionally release all those arbitrarily detained in Israeli prisons. In December, PEN International expressed grave concerns about the news that prominent Palestinian artist and cultural figure Ahmed Tobasi, the artistic director of West Bank-based The Freedom Theatre, and his colleague Mustafa Sheta, The Freedom Theatre’s producer and general manager were arrested by Israeli forces. PEN International calls for Ahmed Tobasi and Mustafa Sheta to be immediately and unconditionally released and for an end to the targeting of writers and artists in Palestine.
PEN Perth joins PEN International in these calls. Our Spotlight on Palestine honours the work and draws attention to those who have been arrested. There will be no time for discussion but there will be light refreshments following the readings.
Past event: ‘Perth Launch: Stories That Want To Be Told’ (7/02/24, Centre For Stories)
Our friends at the Centre For Stories launched the essay collection Stories That Want To Be Told. Robert Wood facilitated conversation between journalised Victoria Laurie and essayist Hessom Razavi. The discussion concentrated on Razavi’s upbringing as a refugee from Iran and continuing passion for refugee rights and humanisation. Points the panel raised included the weaponisation of language to sow fear and distrust towards refugees and ways community members can help newcomers settle in Australia (e.g., sponsorship, talking to local MPs).
Suggested Reads
Israel now ranks among the world’s leading jailers of journalists. We don’t know why they’re behind bars (The Conversation)
Israel has emerged as one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists, according to a newly released census compiled by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
Each year, the committee releases a snapshot of the number of journalists behind bars as of December 1 2023 was the second highest on record with 320 in detention around the world.
In a small way, that is encouraging news. The figure is down from a high of 363 the previous year. But a troublingly large number remain locked up, undermining press freedom and often, human rights.
See here for more: https://theconversation.com/israel-now-ranks-among-the-worlds-leading-jailers-of-journalists-we-dont-know-why-theyre-behind-bars-221411
Still lost in China: conservatives must help liberate imprisoned patriots (committee member Frances An in Spectator Australia)
Frances An makes the conservative case for internationally focused free speech advocacy:
‘Currently, numerous professors from the free world continue to be arbitrarily detained in China. Australian writer Yang Hengjun remains detained in China on unfounded charges of espionage. Yuan Keqin, a Chinese historian who was working at a Japanese university, was detained and disappeared after he flew to China for a family funeral. Both men’s possibility of release is uncertain, though recent reports indicate that Yang has been subject to over 300 interrogations, intense torture, and is in extremely poor medical condition.
‘If the political right uses its inclinations towards pragmatism, emphasis on procedural fairness, and ample resources to support writers’ and journalists’ freedom of expression, the wider community will benefit. As once occurred during the Cold War, the sometimes tense alliance of various right-wingers and their sympathisers must reunite against the totalitarian regimes that threaten democratic societies.’
See here for the whole article: https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/12/still-lost-in-china-conservatives-must-help-liberate-imprisoned-patriots/
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