At her trial in November previous year, Ms Gao said a confession, which was broadcast on national television, had been made under duress, with implicit threats made against her adult son, Zhao Meng, who was detained at the same time as her. Since freed, Mr Zhao attended Thursday’s appeal verdict, according to her lawyers.
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That court convicted her on charges of leaking state secrets for providing an internal party memo to an overseas Chinese news site.
Foreign governments and human rights groups have denounced the verdict against Gao as politically driven retribution for her criticism of the government, and urged authorities to release the elderly journalist.
State security prevented foreign journalists and about 10 diplomats from standing near the court, and wrestled to the ground a woman who shouted slogans in support of Gao.
“Her sentencing is in line with the very stern approach President Xi Jinping’s team has taken on dissent, information control and challenges to the Party”, he added.
But Mr Mo said his client maintained her innocence and that a lack of evidence should have seen her sentence overturned.
The document revealed the Party’s ideological battle plan to counter advocates of constitutional democracy, banning public discussions on topics ranging from press freedom, civil rights to judicial independence.
Last Monday, Deutsche Welle Director General Peter Limbourg said he hoped that the appeal court would free Gao and that the Chinese leadership would finally acknowledge that the “harsh” jail term was a “disgrace”. She was released early for medical reasons.
She had been detained since April a year ago.
Our correspondent says many believe that Gao Yu is unpopular with the Chinese government because of her unrelenting reports focusing on China’s elite-level politics.
The 71-year-old has won many journalism and press freedom awards since 1995, including the Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Association of Newspapers’ Golden Pen of Freedom Award.
Gao was arrested in 1989 for reporting and taking part in the pro-democracy student protests which ended in a bloody crackdown on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
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After being released on medical parole, she was jailed again in 1993 for six years for leaking state secrets, according to Hong Kong daily the South China Morning Post.
