China Delays Trial of New York Times Man

The trial of a Chinese researcher charged with revealing state secrets while working for the New York Times is expected to take place before the end of March, following a one-month delay.

Zhao Yan, 43, faces at least 10 years in jail after Chinese security officials charged him with telling the newspaper about the rivalry between China’s outgoing Communist party leader, Jiang Zemin, and his successor, Hu Jintao.

Mr Zhao also faces a lesser charge of fraud.

"The court should hear the case and hand down an initial verdict before March 20, though the date has not been set for sure," Mr Zhao’s lawyer, Mo Shaoping, told reporters in Beijing.

The trial has been postponed for a month after the court decided it needed more time to subpoena witnesses and re-examine evidence at the request of the defense.

Mr. Zhao worked as a reporter in China, often exposing official corruption and abuse of farmers, before he joined the New York Times. He won the Reporters Without Borders 2005 prize in December for journalists who have "shown a strong commitment to press freedom".

He was arrested in September 2004 during one of the most prominent of a series of jailings of Chinese reporters in the country’s recent history.

Last April, China arrested Ching Cheong, a Hong Kong-based reporter for Singapore’s Straits Times, on spying charges. The same month, a Chinese reporter, Shi Tao, was sentenced to 10 years in jail after being accused of revealing state secrets after he sent propaganda department directives to an overseas website.