Zhao Yan (journalist) on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Zhao Yan (, born 14 March 1962) is a Chinese researcher employed by the Beijing bureau of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''. He was imprisoned for a three-year period starting 17 September 2004, on charges of fraud, after originally being arrested for revealing state secrets. According to the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, he was released on 15 September 2007.
The accusation that he disclosed state secrets is related to an article in ''The NY Times'' on 7 September 2004, that correctly predicted the retirement of
Jiang Zemin
Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2004, and as pr ...
, former
General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and
paramount leader. Jiang retired on 19 September of that year. ''The NY Times'' had said that Zhao did not provide that information.
On 17 June 2006, Zhao was tried in a closed-door session in Beijing. He was found guilty of fraud but not of revealing state secrets. Zhao was sentenced to three years' jail on 24 August 2006; at that time, he had already served almost two years of his sentence.
He is the first person to be charged with, but acquitted of revealing state secrets in China.
Before joining ''The New York Times'', Zhao was a well-known investigative journalist who reported on farmers' rights issues for the Beijing-based ''Zhongguo Gaige'' 中国改革 (''China Reform'') magazine
He had written extensively on the plight of some 20,000 peasants who had been relocated in the 1990s to make way for the Taolinkou reservoir in Hebei Province (see
Tangshan protest
The Tangshan protest occurred in 2004 after more than 11,000 farmers in Hebei Province, China, signed a petition calling for the removal of Communist Party officials who were allegedly involved in corruption. The protest led to a crackdown on righ ...
). He was sacked by ''China Reform'' after more than 11,000 farmers submitted a petition to the National People's Congress.
References
External links
Zhao Yancollected news and commentary at ''
China Digital Times
China Digital Times (CDT; ) is a US-based 501(c)(3) organization that runs a bilingual news website covering China. The site focuses on news items which are blocked, deleted or suppressed by China's state censors.
History
The website was started ...
''
*
"China Ex-President May Be Set to Yield Last Powerful Post" Abstract of the 7 September 2004 NY Times article
Prisoner Profile: Zhao Yan (2004)Zhao Yan Tried Behind Closed Doors–
IFEX
"Chinese court jails NYT researcher for 3 years" Channel News Asia, 25 August 2006
People's Republic of China journalists
1962 births
Living people
Writers from Harbin
{{China-journalist-stub