Ching Cheong's wife first sought Fok's help
Henry Fok Ying-tung was the first person Ching Cheong's wife, Mary Lau Man-yee, approached for help when the veteran journalist got into trouble on the mainland, she said.
Lau, also a journalist, was speaking yesterday at a press conference organised by the Hong Kong Journalists' Association and the Ching Cheong Incident Concern Group, where she reiterated his innocence.
She also said the family had been notified by the court that the case had been delayed until the end of this month, and that she expected a judgment at any time.
Expressing her gratitude to Fok, who died at the age of 83 on Saturday after a long battle with cancer, Lau said she sought help from the tycoon when Ching first got into trouble on May 11.
'After June 4, Mr Fok told Ching Cheong that he could come to him whenever he had any problem,' she said, adding that Fok had made inquiries with Beijing and reflected the family's wishes.
Ching is making a last-ditch effort to prove his innocence by compiling a self-defence statement for a Beijing court after it decided not to hold an appeal hearing against his conviction of spying for Taiwan. Ching's lawyer has also submitted the final defence to Beijing's Supreme People's Court.
Lau said: 'If it decides to conduct a hearing, at least he has a chance to defend himself.'
She said she had applied for a thorough health check on Ching two months ago, but her request was ignored. Another request would be made via the Hong Kong government in the coming days.
'We demand they immediately arrange for Ching Cheong to have a health check in hospital,' she said, adding that during his 18-month detention, his health had declined, with insomnia and irregular heart beats.
Ching, the China correspondent for Singapore's The Straits Times, was sentenced in August to five years in prison after being convicted of passing state secrets and confidential military information to Taiwan's Foundation on International and Cross-Strait Studies, an organisation that prosecutors said was a front for Taiwanese intelligence agencies. The foundation has dismissed the allegation.
