Tortured and isolated in a Chinese jail, Yang Hengjun has ‘no regrets’

Singapore: Chinese-Australian writer Yang Hengjun says he has no regrets about being arrested in China, declaring it has allowed him to put a spotlight on the country’s legal system.

The comments made in a message to his wife Yuan Xiaoliang, lawyers and friends come three years after the University of Technology graduate and pro-democracy blogger was first detained and subjected to torture and isolation.

Chinese-Australian writer Yang Hengjun says he is innocent of vaguely defined charges of espionage. Credit: AFR

The Chinese court system has delayed his trial and verdict for months, leaving Yang to languish in prison, unsure of his fate on espionage charges which he and the Australian government have strongly denied.

“I feel no regrets about being arrested,” Yang said. “The value and ideal of promoting, popularising, and practising law, fairness and justice, social justice, freedom, and democracy are my original aspiration and my Chinese dream.”

Yang’s verdict after a one-day closed-court hearing in May last year was originally scheduled to be handed down in October, but this was delayed until January. It has now been pushed out further to April 9.

Yang faces a sentence ranging from three years to death under national security charges. The Chinese legal system has a conviction rate of 99 per cent. He has refused to admit to the espionage charges despite being subjected to rounds of torture, dragging out the process in a confession-driven legal system.

“I will not give in under any pressure from any forces,” Yang said in the message released on Monday. “Let the Chinese legal system triumph once, and let the sunshine of fairness and justice shine into every dark corner!

“I wait with optimism for the day that I will be free again, and with optimism for the day when freedom comes to everyone, and such hope will not fade till the end of my life!”

The father-of-two had spent a decade in Australia pushing for democratic reforms in China and criticising economic policy and corruption within the Communist Party after earlier working in business and for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Wednesday marks three years since he was suddenly detained at Guangzhou’s Baiyun airport after arriving from New York to visit friends and family. The visit coincided with a sharp deterioration in relations between Beijing and Canberra over political interference legislation and the decision to ban Huawei from Australia’s 5G network, raising fears the arrest was politically motivated.

“I want the Chinese government to open my case and publish it,” Yang said in a separate message dictated to supporters during a recent prison visit. “To provide details to the world, the Australian government and the country.”

Yang’s UTS PhD supervisor and friend Feng Chongyi said his former student hoped he would not be convicted for his beliefs that China should take on core values like democracy and liberty. He said Yang had several books planned and he still believed the world should engage rather than contain China.

But Yang’s supporters are growing increasingly concerned about his health, stating he is suffering from gout, high blood pressure, impaired vision, and rising levels of creatinine which put him at risk of kidney failure. Other Chinese government critics such as Liu Xiaobo and Cao Shunli died after receiving little to no medical treatment in detention.

Yang’s supporters want him to be released on bail, so he can obtain medical treatment and be returned to Australia – neither of which is possible without sentencing. The 56-year-old is confined with no sunlight, with lights on all night and a communal open toilet.

“I’m not guilty, but they treat me like dirt here and they tortured me,” he said in the message dictated before he was made to put on a blindfold and leave the room.

Yang Hengjun with his wife Xiaoliang Yuan.

Yang’s comments will put further pressure on the Chinese government ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics where its human rights record will be the focus of international attention. The United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom have launched a diplomatic boycott of the Games in response to its alleged human rights abuses.

The Netherlands and Denmark on Friday said they would not send official diplomatic representation to the Games, citing COVID-19 restrictions which would only allow for limited opportunities to discuss the “human rights situation in a meaningful way”.

Fellow Chinese-Australian Cheng Lei also remains in detention on national security charges almost 18 months after she was first detained. The journalist, 46, has been kept in a cell at a detention facility with limited fresh air and natural light and has been masked, blindfolded and restrained in meetings with Australian consular officials.

The Melbourne mother-of-two was detained on August 13 on suspicion of illegally communicating state secrets overseas. The exact nature of the claims remains unknown and her family has always maintained her innocence.

Cheng had been critical of the Chinese government’s initial management of COVID-19, mocking President Xi Jinping as a “dear leader” and arguing the horrors of the pandemic response had been “very uneasy to swallow”.

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