New York Times Journalist to Go on Trial in China

The Chinese authorities are preparing to put a New York Times research assistant on trial for leaking state secrets, his legal team said yesterday.

Zhao Yan, who was named journalist of the year by the press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders, was arrested in September 2004, soon after the US newspaper broke the news that former president Jiang Zemin was planning to step down as head of the Chinese military.

Although Mr Zhao has been in jail and unable to meet his family for more than a year, the government has yet to press charges. His lawyer Mo Shaoping said the case would finally go to court next week. If convicted - as is the verdict in more than 90% of such trials - the defendant faces up to 10 years in prison. The story of Mr Jiang's resignation embarrassed the secretive communist leadership, but the New York Times bureau in Beijing denies that Mr Zhao supplied the information that exposed plans for a power shift.

His arrest came at the height of a repressive phase of government. Despite initial hopes that president Hu Jintao would adopt more liberal policies than his predecessors, China has cracked down on journalists, academics and democracy activists in the past two years.

Earlier this month, Reporters Without Borders honoured Mr Zhao with an award for journalists who have "shown a strong commitment to press freedom". The Chinese foreign ministry accused the organisation of interfering in legal process.