Posted by WBZ on February 19, 2004 at 22:54:20:
11 of 12 DOCUMENTS
Copyright 2003 South China Morning Post Ltd.
South China Morning Post
September 21, 2003
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 6
LENGTH: 234 words
HEADLINE: Jailed dissident asks court for retrial
BYLINE: Ray Cheung
BODY:
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.
The petition represents another attempt by the 55-year-old
dissident to
quash his life sentence after losing an appeal in February.
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."
LOAD-DATE: September 22, 2003