BEIJING, Dec 14 (AFP) - A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman on Thursday suggested China would not deport a US resident and Falungong woman, sentenced to three years in prison for exposing the detention of Falungong practitioners in mental hospitals.
Spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said Teng Chunyan is not considered a foreigner as she still holds Chinese citizenship and therefore deportation considerations for foreigners under similar cases would not apply to her.
"According to criminal law of the People's Republic of China, Article 33, what you mentioned only applies to foreigners. For Teng Chunyan, it does not apply to her," Zhang said in answering a reporter's question during a routine press briefing.
The US Embassy in Beijing and Teng's family have appealed for her release.
Teng, detained in May, was sentenced this week in Beijing on spying charges and became the first overseas Falungong practitioner to be put on trial in China.
The 37-year-old acupuncturist from New York was accused of leading foreign journalists to a village in the Fangshan district of Beijing to interview Falungong adherents who had been detained in a mental hospital.
She is also accused of providing pictures taken at the mental hospital to foreign media.
Teng was sentenced at a secret hearing at Beijing Intermediate People's Court on Tuesday following a trial on November 23.
She used the pseudonym of "Hanna Li" when contacting foreign journalists in Beijing.
Zhang on Thursday rejected suggestions the court gave Teng a lighter sentence than the 10 years human rights groups had been expecting due to pressure from the United States.
Teng holds a US green card, which entitles her to all the rights US citizens enjoy other than voting rights and full consular protection overseas.
Frank Lu, director of the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Hong Kong, said Teng's case was not without hope.
"There will be continuing pressure to release her, so there is still a possibility," Lu said.
Category: Falun Dafa in the Media
