A Chinese medical researcher has been executed in China on charges of spying for Taiwan. His execution has been carried out by the Chinese authorities despite pleas for clemency from the US and European governments and human rights organisations which believe that he hadn’t received a fair trial.

Wo Weihan, 59, ran a medical equipment company in Beijing. His detention occurred in January 2005, but he was not permitted to see a lawyer for almost a year thereafter. Wo had been held in a prison hospital since March 2005, and was sentenced to death following a closed trial in 2007.

According to his conviction, Mr Wo’s offences include revealing the health status of a high-ranking Chinese official (information considered a state secret), and passing on data about missile control systems to Taiwanese intelligence agencies. His daughter Chen Ran said that this information had been published in a magazine and was only later classified as secret.

Chen Ran has also drawn attention to procedural irregularities regarding her father’s trial. According to her, Wo Weihan was convicted on a flimsy prosecution case, on the basis of a confession which he later recanted, and in a closed trial with no external monitoring as to its fairness.  The US embassy also expressed its concern before Mr Wo’s execution had been approved, adding “We have expressed repeatedly and at high levels our serious concern about the lack of transparency and due process regarding Mr Wo’s case”.

The Chinese authorities’ actions have been met with worldwide condemnation, especially from Austrian President Heinz Fischer and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who had appealed to Beijing to spare Mr Wo.

Ursula Plassnik, Austria’s Foreign Minister (the country where Mr Wo had formerly lived) has commented: ”that this execution comes precisely on the day of dialogue between the EU and China on human rights shows the lack of consideration and the harshness with which this case has been handled.”