China executes accused spy day after telling family they could visit

BEIJING — China on Friday executed a man convicted of spying for Taiwan a day after notifying his relatives through diplomatic channels that they would have a second chance to visit him, his daughter said.

Wo Weihan, 60, was accused of passing data on missile-guidance systems and other sensitive information to a group linked to Taiwanese intelligence agencies. Taiwan and mainland China have been divided amid civil war since 1949.

Wo, a researcher and owner of a medical-supply company, was convicted in May. Wo was arrested in 2005 and suffered a stroke two weeks into his detention. He had been held at a prison hospital until Friday morning, when he was executed by a gunshot to the head.

Wo's family said he initially confessed to the crimes but later recanted, saying the confession had been coerced. The evidence against him was deemed a state secret, and even his lawyer was not allowed to discuss it with his family. A distant relative of Wo, Guo Wanjun, 66, was convicted as a conspirator and also put to death Friday, family members said.

Austrian deputy Deputy Ambassador Stefan Scholz relayed the news of the execution late Friday afternoon to the family, according to Wo's daughter Ran Chen. Chen, a graduate student in Berkeley, Calif., is an Austrian citizen and had been appealing for clemency through diplomatic channels since arriving in Beijing on Monday.

The news shocked Wo's family members, who at a Thursday afternoon news conference had praised China's willingness to grant them a second visit and said they had not lost hope that Chinese officials would commute Wo's sentence.

"We were all misled, led to have false hope, denied the fundamental right to be informed, and forced to suffer," a statement from the family said.

The U.S. State Department said it was "deeply disturbed" by news of Wo's execution and that his arrest and trial "fell far short of international standards for due process."

Compiled from The Associated Press, The Washington Post and The New York Times