A Chinese-Australian writer was given a suspended death sentence this week by a Chinese court in another reminder of the regime's hostility toward those who speak out against its human rights abuses.
Yang Hengjun, a writer and blogger who was born in China and became an Australian citizen in 2000, had been vocal about his reformist opinions about the Chinese government. Not long after entering the country in 2019, he disappeared from public view and ultimately underwent a closed-door trial in May 2021 on dubious espionage charges during which he was reportedly not permitted to call witnesses. The death sentence comes with a two-year reprieve: If Yang is not accused of committing any more crimes during that probationary period, then his sentence will be commuted to life in prison.
