The father-of-two had spent a decade in Australia pushing for democratic reforms in China and criticising economic policy and corruption within the Communist Party after earlier working in business and for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Wednesday marks three years since he was suddenly detained at Guangzhou’s Baiyun airport after arriving from New York to visit friends and family. The visit coincided with a sharp deterioration in relations between Beijing and Canberra over political interference legislation and the decision to ban Huawei from Australia’s 5G network,raising fears the arrest was politically motivated.

“I want the Chinese government to open my case and publish it,” Yang said in a separate message dictated to supporters during a recent prison visit. “To provide details to the world,the Australian government and the country.”

Yang’s UTS PhD supervisor and friend Feng Chongyi said his former student hoped he would not be convicted for his beliefs that China should take on core values like democracy and liberty. He said Yang had several books planned and he still believed the world should engage rather than contain China.

But Yang’s supporters are growing increasingly concerned about his health,stating he is suffering from gout,high blood pressure,impaired vision,and rising levels of creatinine which put him at risk of kidney failure. Other Chinese government critics such as Liu Xiaobo and Cao Shunli died after receiving little to no medical treatment in detention.

Yang’s supporters want him to be released on bail,so he can obtain medical treatment and be returned to Australia – neither of which is possible without sentencing. The 56-year-old is confined with no sunlight,with lights on all night and a communal open toilet.

“I’m not guilty,but they treat me like dirt here and they tortured me,” he said in the message dictated before he was made to put on a blindfold and leave the room.

Yang’s comments will put further pressure on the Chinese government ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics where its human rights record will be the focus of international attention. The United States,Australia,Canada and the United Kingdom havelaunched a diplomatic boycott of the Games in response to its alleged human rights abuses.

The Netherlands and Denmark on Friday said they would not send official diplomatic representation to the Games,citing COVID-19 restrictions which would only allow for limited opportunities to discuss the “human rights situation in a meaningful way”.

FellowChinese-Australian Cheng Lei also remains in detention on national security charges almost 18 months after she was first detained. The journalist,46,has been kept in a cell at a detention facility with limited fresh air and natural light and has been masked,blindfolded and restrained in meetings with Australian consular officials.

The Melbourne mother-of-two was detained on August 13 on suspicion of illegally communicating state secrets overseas. The exact nature of the claims remains unknown and her family has always maintained her innocence.

Cheng had been critical of the Chinese government’s initial management of COVID-19,mocking President Xi Jinping as a “dear leader” and arguing the horrors of the pandemic response had been “very uneasy to swallow”.

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