China sentences UK 'spy' to life

Chan is alleged to have discussed the 1989 protests with a UK agent

A Chinese court has sentenced a Hong Kong resident with dual British citizenship to life imprisonment for spying, newspapers report.

Chinese officials have not disclosed details of the case against the former employee of the Hong Kong branch of China's Xinhua state news agency.

The bureau acted as China's consulate in the former British colony before it returned to mainland rule in 1997.

Chan Yu-lam, 53, is expected to appeal against the sentence.

"I want to tell everyone that my husband is not a spy. He is innocent," The Standard quoted Mr Chan's wife as saying.

Tiananmen Square

The Washington Post reported this week that Mr Chan had been accused of breaking Chinese law by discussing the 1989 suppression of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests with a British agent.

The report said Mr Chan was also accused of illegally giving the agent phone numbers for the Xinhua bureau.

Mr Chan was sentenced on Friday by a court in the southern city of Guangzhou, near Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post reported.

The British embassy said two other Hong Kong-based British citizens had been detained in Guangzhou.

A spokeswoman for the British Consulate in Guangzhou told Associated Press news agency that it had not received any notice from the court.