Legal case

• The Chinese-Australian academic and writer, Yang Hengjun, has been detained in China for five years on suspicion of spying for Australia.
• A secret trial was held in 2021 with no family, friends or Australian consular officials permitted in the courtroom.
• Today, his fate has finally been made clear: Yang received a suspended death sentence which can be commuted to life in prison after two years of good behaviour.

Yang’s background

• Yang was born in China and previously worked in the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of State Security.
• He later moved to Australia, where he became a citizen in 2002, and then to the US where had been a visiting scholar at Columbia University from 2017.
• Yang had been detained in China previously in 2011, but was quickly released ahead of a visit to China by then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

How frequently is the death penalty used in China?

• China has a notorious record of imposing the death penalty for a number of different offences.
• While there has been a downward trend in the number of countries that retain the death penalty and actually carry out executions, reliable data on China is impossible to attain.
• As such, Amnesty no longer includes any Chinese figures in its annual Global Death Penalty reports.

Does Yang have any rights left under international law?

• Yang can still appeal his sentence through the Chinese legal system, which effectively provides him with certain levels of protection until his appeals have been exhausted.
• Diplomatically, though, this would be a basis for Australia to continue to advocate for his release on humanitarian grounds.

Is there anything Australia can do for Yang now?

• This is significant as convictions for a capital offence in China are typically followed quickly by an execution.
• Yang’s Australian citizenship will have no doubt have been taken into account in this instance.
• Any formal efforts by Australia to provide Yang with diplomatic protection under international law are constrained while his legal case is still playing out.

Has China treated Yang with procedural fairness?

• Australia had very few options to ensure Yang was being afforded these rights in China.
• China has respected some of the minimum entitlements under this agreement, which has enabled consular staff to meet with Yang and monitor his wellbeing, though China restricted access during the peak periods of the COVID-19 lockdown.
• And as Amnesty International notes, China has not put forth any evidence to support its assertion that Yang was, indeed, a spy.

Donald Rothwell receives funding from Australian Research Council

• To mark the occasion, several major landmarks in Canada will be lit up after dark – many in Amnesty yellow – on the evening of December 10 (International Human Rights Day), including:
  Mississauga, Ont.
• Since Write for Rights started in 2001, millions of people have changed the lives of those whose human rights had been targeted and stripped from them.
• As part of Amnesty’s Write for Rights campaign 2022, our supporters took action while Amnesty International Zimbabwe supported them throughout their trials.
• While reading the letters of support, Joanah said: “Thank you so much to our Amnesty International friends for writing all these letters.

• A Houston-area Massage Envy has agreed to pay its maximum insurance policy limit of $1 million to two women who filed a lawsuit saying they were sexually assaulted by a male massage therapist during their appointments.
• Blizzard Greenberg attorneys represented the women, identified as T.G and M.D., in the lawsuit against a Massage Envy franchise in Conroe.
• Following reports of the assaults, the Conroe Police Department arrested Jose Barajas Franco and charged him with felony sexual assault.
• v Massage Envy and Jose Barajas Franco et al., cause number 2022-59001 in Harris County District Court.

• BRATISLAVA, Slovakia, Sept. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ESET has welcomed a California federal jury's ruling in its favor, finding that the leading digital security provider has not committed patent infringement on Finjan Holdings LLC technologies.
• Despite Finjan's claims that its patents were infringed upon, ESET staunchly defended its position and received favorable judgement.
• "Describing this legal case as a battle is entirely accurate," said Richard Marko, CEO of ESET.
• With decades of experience at our disposal, having invented and implemented numerous efficient protective layers, we have enough arguments to defend against unfounded patent infringement claims."