Rights group demands release of US businesswoman held by China for alleged spying
Treatment of Sandy Phan-Gillis also condemned by UN working group on arbitrary detention
A human rights group on Wednesday demanded the release of a US businesswoman held by China for alleged espionage since last year after a UN committee said she had been “arbitrarily detained”.
Sandy Phan-Gillis was seized in March 2015 while crossing the border to Macau at the end of a visit to China by a trade delegation from the Texas oil capital Houston, supporters said.
The American has been investigated on accusations of “spying and stealing state secrets”, according to the website Savesandy.org, which provides information on her case.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said on Sunday that “international norms relating to the right to a fair trial and to liberty and security” had not been observed in her case.
Violations by Chinese authorities were of “such gravity as to give the deprivation of liberty of Ms Phan-Gillis an arbitrary character”, it said in a report posted online.
Phan-Gillis was first held for six months in a secret location and later at a detention centre in the southern region of Guangxi where she was initially placed in solitary confinement, the UN group said.