Australian citizen Yang Hengjun has been given a suspended death sentence by a Beijing court, five years after his arrest on accusations of spying.

The sentence may be commuted to life in prison after 2 years of good behaviour.

Dr Yang denies the charges, and so does the Australian Government who described the allegations of spying to be baseless,

It is a harsh outcome ‘at the extreme end of the worst expectations’ for Yang’s family and ‘harrowing news’ for Foreign Minister Penny Wong.

Wong has summoned China’s Ambassador to Australia to communicate its response in “the strongest terms”.

Image: Image: 巴丟草Badiucao

Produced By: Olivia Bui

Featured In Story: Dr Benjamin Herscovitch, Global Governance Research Fellow at Australian National University

First aired on The Wire, Wednesday 7 February 2024