BEIJING, Oct 21 (AFP) - China has formally arrested a New York Times researcher who was detained last month for allegedly leaking state secrets -- a crime that could be punishable by death, his lawyers said late Thursday.
Zhao Yan was held on September 16, only days after the newspaper reported that former president Jiang Zemin would resign from his top military post at a high-level secretive meeting of the Communist Party.
"The prosecution authorities approved his official arrest yesterday," lawyer Mo Shaoping told AFP.
"His charge was illegally providing state secrets overseas," said Mo. "The maximum penalty under the Chinese law is death sentence."
In China, police or security services must apply for a formal arrest within 37 days of detaining a suspect or else they must release them.
Mo said authorities had not referred to any specific acts, although there were suspicions that they were linked to his work at the New York Times.
At the time of the report on Jiang, his plan to retire would have been a closely guarded state secret since all movements and activities of top leaders are shrouded in mystery.
The newspaper has denied Zhao, a Chinese citizen, revealed any state secrets.
The US State Department has demanded an explanation for Zhao's detention but a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman warned last month that foreign countries should not interfere in the case since it was an internal matter.
Zhao previously reported for the magazine China Reform and wrote a series of critical reports about officials' abuse of Chinese peasants before he joined the New York Times.
10/21/2004 20:21 GMT - AFP