950824

Harry Wu

sentenced,

to be expelled

from China

BEIJING: Detained US human rights activist Harry Wu, at the centre of a political storm between Beijing and Washington, was sentenced Thursday to 15 years' jail for alleged spying and will be expelled from China, Xinhua announced.

The brief despatch did not specify when the expulsion would take place, but observers here suggested it would precede the jail term, in an apparent bid to ease tensions with the United States.

Sentence was carried out by a court in the central city of Wuhan, the official news agency said.

"The court confirmed that the defendant is guilty of spying, illegally obtaining, buying, and providing state secrets to overseas institutes, organizations, and persons, and of passing himself off as a government worker for deceptive activities," it said.

"In accordance with articles of China's Criminal Law, the court decided to sentence Wu Hongda to 15 years in jail and to expel him from China as punishment for his two crimes," it said, referring to Wu's Chinese name.

"Wu has 10 days to appeal," it said. "If the defendant does not appeal, the judgement will stand as it is."

Wu, a 58-year-old Chinese-born American citizen, has been at the centre of a political storm since he was arrested more than two months ago.

Human rights activists have been urging Hillary Rodham Clinton, wife of US President Bill Clinton, to boycott next month's UN World Conference on Women in Beijing because of his detention.-AFP