9/21/03 S. China Morning Post 6
South China Morning Post (c) 2003 South China Morning Post Publishers Limited, Hong Kong. All rights reserved.
Sunday, September 21, 2003
Jailed dissident asks court for retrial.
Imprisoned dissident Wang Bingzhang has petitioned the Guangdong Higher People's Court to review his conviction for being a spy and a terrorist, a human rights group said yesterday. Wang was a permanent resident in the United States but went to Vietnam in June last year, where he reportedly was kidnapped and taken to Guangxi province.
He was arrested and a Shenzhen court convicted him on charges of spying for Taiwan and plotting terrorist attacks on the mainland.
According to a report issued by the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy yesterday, a lawyer representing Wang last Friday filed a petition asking for a retrial. Under mainland laws, convicted prisoners are allowed to file such petitions even after they lose their appeals.
The submission came after Wang Qingyan, Wang's daughter who lives in the US, was allowed to visit him at the Beijiang Prison in Shaoquan, Guangdong, during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
The report quoted her as saying her father was ill and had not received proper treatment.
Frank Lu Siqing, the head of the human rights centre, said the jail visit did not reflect a change of heart by the government since it was allowed under the law. "We don't know what's going on."