Yang is being pushed to confess to spying allegations that potentially carry the death penalty, lawyers say

This article is more than 9 months old

This article is more than 9 months old

The detained Australian writer Dr Yang Hengjun is being subjected to daily interrogations with his arms and legs shackled, as Chinese security officials try to “break” him, his lawyers say, pushing for him to confess to unspecified allegations of espionage that potentially carry the death penalty.

Yang, an Australian citizen and globally influential pro-democracy political blogger, has been held by China’s Ministry of State Security since being detained in Guangzhou in January. After months held in secret detention, Yang’s conditions of incarceration had eased, but sources with knowledge of his case have told the Guardian his maltreatment was now growing worse.

For some of his incarceration, he had been subjected to a single interview each month during which he was not shackled, but the last 10 days had seen a return to daily interrogation sessions, sometimes commencing at midnight, while his wrists and ankles were held in chains.

Yang is granted one half-hour consular visit each month. His already limited contact from family has been cut off: letters are not being delivered and verbal messages are not being passed on. He has still not been allowed to communicate with his lawyers, after nearly 11 months in detention.

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Yang’s Australian defence lawyer, the human rights advocate Robert Stary, said Chinese officials were attempting to isolate Yang from the outside world.

“Chinese security officials have already blocked all written messages, letters, books and documents from being passed to Dr Yang. Not a single letter of support has been passed on, including multiple letters each month from his immediate family. There is a plain attempt to have Dr Yang be subjected to interrogation in complete isolation, cut off entirely from his loved ones and supporters.”

Stary said Yang was “nothing more than a political prisoner”.

“He is not alone, he is not without support, and it is imperative that he is aware of this.”

Australia’s foreign minister, Marise Payne, confirmed reports of the resumption of daily interrogations and the shackling of Yang, and said his treatment was “unacceptable”.

“We have made repeated requests to the Chinese authorities for an explanation of the charges against Dr Yang. We have also made repeated requests for him to be afforded basic standards of justice, procedural fairness, and humane treatment… including access to his lawyers and to his family, both of which continue to be denied to him.

“This has not led to any substantive changes in his treatment.”

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, said Australia “has to stand up for our citizens”. He said he was deeply concerned by the treatment of Yang and said Australia would continue to advocate on his behalf.

Another of Yang’s lawyers, Sarah Condon, said Yang had been in good health before being detained.

“He is now being told that he is suffering high blood pressure, and has serious problems with his kidney function. We understand that he is being given a number of unknown and unspecified ‘medications’, up to nine tablets daily.

“We also understand that during interrogations, which are now taking place on a daily basis, that Dr Yang’s wrists and feet are being shackled. He is being interrogated in a repetitive fashion. Despite being incarcerated now for many, many months, Dr Yang continues to be denied access to his lawyers.”

Yang’s lawyers say the increased pressure is a reflection of an increased desperation from the ministry of state security for a confession, and efforts to “break” Yang. However, they say he has continued to deny all allegations of espionage. The ministry has until March before his case must be brought before a court, according to Chinese law.

The conviction rate for those accused of a crime in China is 99%, in a criminal justice system almost entirely reliant on “confessions” obtained through long, secretive detentions.

Yang has not been given any detail about his alleged offence, but he has been charged with spying for a foreign power.

There are a range of espionage charges under Chinese law, carrying penalties from three years imprisonment to execution.

Previous reports of Yang’s interrogations suggest he has been repeatedly told he faces execution, that his country has abandoned him, and his family and friends have betrayed him.

“A [ministry of state security] investigation officer told me that Australia was small and wouldn’t care about me,” the writer said in a message relayed from detention earlier this month.

“He said Australia was dependent on China for its trade and economy, and Canberra wouldn’t help me, let alone rescue me.

“He said Australia wouldn’t help because I am not white. This is nonsense. He was wrong.”

Yang’s former doctoral supervisor in Australia, Dr Feng Chongyi, said he believed “the Chinese authorities want to wind up the case and convict Yang”.

“But they have not got the evidence, therefore they have renewed and increased the pressure to ‘break’ him and coerce a confession from him,” Feng, an associate professor in China Studies at the University of Technology Sydney, said.

Fifty-four-year-old Yang, whose legal name in Yang Jun, was born in Hubei in central China. He was formerly a diplomat for China’s ministry of foreign affairs, before working in the private sector in Hong Kong and moving to Australia, then to the US.

A writer of spy novels, he has been a popular blogger, political commentator and agitator for democratic reforms in China for more than a decade.

Yang, who became an Australian citizen in 2002, had been living in the United States, where he was a visiting scholar at Columbia University, before flying to Guangzhou with his family in January. His wife and child were able to enter China, but authorities escorted Yang from the plane into detention.

He was initially held under a system known as “residential surveillance at a designated location”, a type of secret detention of up to six months in which authorities can deny a suspect access to lawyers and to family, and restrict external communication. In July Yang was moved to a Beijing detention centre in the lead-up to being charged.

Yang’s long-running detention continues at a time of acute strain in relations between Canberra and Beijing, with Australia in the so-called “diplomatic freezer”, enjoying little high-level access to the regime.

And with relations already laboured over a laundry-list of issues – Chinese telco Huawei’s 5G ban by Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board; allegations of Chinese interference in Australian education and political systems; and Beijing’s military expansionism in the South China Sea – allegations aired in the Australian media last week that a self-declared China spy has sought to defect have angered the Chinese regime further.

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An editorial in the state-run China Daily said Australia was “losing the plot”.

“A ‘China threat’ storm is building in Australia. If unchecked, this ill wind, which has been blowing steadily in recent years and taken its toll on China-Australia ties, will gain enough force to shatter the foundations of bilateral interaction.”

Australia’s foreign minister, Marise Payne, has previously raised Yang’s case with her Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, saying Australia held “serious concerns” for Yang’s welfare and the conditions of his detention. She said there was “no basis” for any allegation he was a spy.

A spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, Geng Shuang, has warned Australia against “interference” in the case.

“China deplores the Australian statement on this case … the Australian side should earnestly respect China’s judicial sovereignty and must not ... interfere with a Chinese case,” he said.

He said Yang’s arrest had been handled in accordance with the law and that the Australian citizen was in good health.