BEIJING: A well-known Chinese-born Australian artist will be deported from China, Australian officials said yesterday, for his comments on the 25th anniversary of the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
Guo Jian, 52, a former Chinese soldier, was detained last week after an interview with the Financial Times regarding his experiences as a protester during the army’s violent dispersal of the demonstrators on June 4, 1989.
His detention was seen as part of a wider effort by authorities to stifle criticism of the government and remembrance of those who died in connection with the events 25 years ago.
“Chinese authorities have advised Mr Guo was detained on a visa-related matter,” an official of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in an email.
“We understand Mr Guo will be detained for 15 days and then required to depart China.”
Death for six heroin mules
HANOI: Vietnam yesterday sentenced six members of a smuggling gang to death for trafficking heroin and the party drug ecstasy, state media said.
The two-week trial ended in northern Hoa Binh province yesterday with the 25 defendants all found guilty of moving some 620 kilogrammes of heroin and 1,400 ecstasy pills between Hanoi and Vietnam’s northern provinces.
Seven defendants were sentenced to life in prison, while 12 more were jailed for between 12 and 20 years on the same charge, according to the official Vietnam News Agency.
Communist Vietnam has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws. Anyone found guilty of possessing more than 600 grammes of heroin, or more than 20 kilogrammes of opium, can face the death penalty. Agencies
