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Journalist on trial

Jonathan Watts

Beijing: The Chinese authorities are preparing to put a New York Times research assistant on trial for leaking state secrets, his legal team said on Friday. Zhao Yan, who was named journalist of the year by the press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders, was arrested in September 2004, soon after the U.S. newspaper broke the news that former President Jiang Zemin was planning to step down as head of the Chinese military. Although Mr Zhao has been in jail and unable to meet his family for more than a year, the Government has yet to press charges. His lawyer Mo Shaoping said the case would finally go to court next week. If convicted the defendant faces up to 10 years in prison. The New York Times bureau in Beijing denies that Mr Zhao supplied the information.

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005

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