Yang Hengjun is a writer and pro-democracy blogger jailed in China for four and a half years.
The Australian citizen was arrested at China’s Guangzhou airport in 2019 and slapped with undisclosed national security charges.
He denies working as a spy for Australia or the United States. Alongside strained relations between Australia and China, his case has been delayed ten times.
A verdict is now due in October.
But friends of Yang say time is of the essence. The Australian Embassy in Beijing visited Yang on Thursday. Officials were told he has a four-inch cyst on his kidney that may require surgery.
According to a friend, Yang has said “if something happens with my health and I die in here, people outside won’t know the truth,” adding he was not presented with immediate treatment options in custody.