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This week, the fate of Australian author Yang Hengjun, five years after he was arrested on spying charges, has put China’s brutal and secretive judicial system in the spotlight.
The dual national and democratic activist, who moved to Australia in 1999, has been imprisoned in China since his arrest in 2019 on suspicion of spying for Australia, an allegation that he and the Australian government have denied. I strongly deny it. But on Monday, a Chinese court handed down a suspended death sentence.
Professor Beck Strating said: “While the suspended nature of the death sentence does not mean that the Chinese government is fully committed to the death penalty, it does send a strong message that it will not tolerate the publication of state secrets, and potentially deterrence.” This suggests that he wanted to send a powerful message to the domestic audience.” Professor La Trobe University told Yahoo News Australia.
But the decision is a dark “reminder of the terrible differences” between China’s and Australia’s judicial and government systems, coalition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said this week.
China: ‘World’s Worst Executioner’
The communist country has a notorious history of imposing the death penalty for a variety of crimes, including espionage, drug crimes, and even white-collar crimes such as corruption. He has been branded the “world’s worst executioner” by Amnesty International.
It would therefore not be surprising if Dr Yang faces the death penalty, possibly commuted to life imprisonment, said Donald Rothwell of the Australian National University. But “if circumstances had been different”, perhaps if he were not a foreign national, “he could have been facing the death penalty this week”, the international law professor told Yahoo News Australia. After all, it is a horrifying reminder of the brutal punishments under the Chinese government’s strict laws.
Chinese execution “conveyor belt”
Rothwell said when death sentences are handed down, they “happen in very large numbers” and “quickly.” Amnesty International calls this a “conveyor belt of executions.”
“The big picture is that China carries out more executions than any other country in the world, certainly in the thousands,” Rothwell explained. “However, there are no official government reports on executions, making verifiable numbers extremely difficult to obtain.”
“China has a track record of carrying out the death penalty very quickly once a verdict is handed down,” he said. “So unless there is an option of appeal or unless the option of appeal is pursued, the death penalty will be carried out very quickly.”
Methods used in mass executions
A 2022 study by the Australian National University (ANU) suggests that Chinese surgeons at state-run civilian and military hospitals removed the hearts of death row inmates before they were executed. They are believed to be used in medical and scientific experiments, but organ harvesting can also be “very lucrative”.
Mr Rothwell said he believed this “could provide further evidence for an increase in undocumented executions” and, while not directly related to the case or Dr Yang, “it does reflect the state of human rights practices in China”. It provides a general background to the
Firing squad (shooting) and lethal injection are considered the two preferred execution methods used to carry out state-sanctioned executions. Lately, lethal injection has reportedly become mainstream because it’s cheaper and more secretive.
The lethal injections are believed to have been carried out in an execution vehicle, or something called a mobile gallows, which allows prisoners to be executed without transporting them to prison. Additionally, due to its secretive nature, victims’ names are rarely made public. Speed of trial and execution.
The death penalty is “a means of state control”
Rothwell points out that it is not unusual for authoritarian governments to perpetuate the death penalty, and that China has a “less modern or liberal approach to human rights and is less receptive to so-called Western human rights values.” Not,” he added.
Under Xi Jinping, “China is moving toward becoming even more authoritarian,” especially when it comes to “law and order issues.” Rothwell said the death penalty is used “as an additional tool of state control.”
Yaqiu Wang, a China researcher at Human Rights Watch, agreed, saying the death penalty is “a long-standing demonstration of the Chinese Communist Party’s power over its people and its readiness to eliminate people it deems ‘criminals.’ It was a political tool for the purpose.” The Guardian newspaper reported. Additionally, Amnesty International China researcher Kai Ong said, “The Chinese government still believes that the use of the death penalty is an effective deterrent to crime,” The Sun reported.
“The Xi Jinping government is trying to send a message to the public that the death penalty will be used, and Chinese citizens need to be aware that serious violations could result in them being subject to the death penalty,” Rothwell said. added.
What Dr Yang’s judgment means for Australia
Analysts said this week’s news threatens a recent deterioration in relations between Australia and China, which until late last year were marred by tensions over trade, COVID-19 and China’s security posture. Ta.
Although Australia and China have significantly repaired diplomatic relations since Labor came to power, Coalition foreign affairs spokesperson Simon Birmingham said the news was a sobering reminder of the two countries’ different realities.
“This is not only a painful blow to Dr. Yang, but also a reminder of the risks when doing business and engaging with China in terms of people-to-people relationships,” he said. . “This is a reminder of why it is important to always uphold the very important values and systems that we are privileged to enjoy here in Australia.”
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