Chinese double agent in bid to stay in U.S.

OAKDALE, Lousiana -- A double agent for China and the FBI is trying to avoid deportation to China, where he says he would be tortured and killed.

A U.S. immigration court is scheduled on Thursday to hear the case of Bin Wu, who was jailed in the early 1990s for smuggling night-vision parts to China.

The 37-year-old is appealing to stay in America after serving a prison sentence for that offense, The Associated Press reported.

Wu, in an affidavit prepared by his attorney, Theodore Cox, said he and his family will be tortured and killed if they are forced to return to his home country.

Immigration officials argue that as a convicted felon, Wu has no right to asylum.

Black list

Wu said he got into trouble in China for promoting democratic reform as a young university professor, and was placed on a black list.

After three of his students were killed in the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, Wu said Chinese officials told him he could save himself by going to America as a spy.

He came to the United States in 1990, but said he believed in democracy and didn't want to spy to help his homeland.

Wu eventually agreed to work for the U.S. government, keeping the FBI informed of his contacts with Chinese intelligence officials.

The affidavit said he provided documents and identities of Chinese agents working in the United States.

At Wu's 1993 trial in Virginia, an FBI agent testified that Wu was giving the FBI information about Chinese intelligence operations and was paid $21,000 over 18 months.

Ilegal exports

Wu said he told FBI agent Blake Lewis that China wanted him to buy parts for night vision scopes and that Lewis gave him permission to proceed with the purchase from a private company in Texas.

But Lewis said he warned Wu against exporting anything illegal.

The Texas company informed the federal government that Wu was going through with the deal and customs officers arrested him in 1992.

Wu was convicted of 34 counts, including violation of the Arms Export Control Act and money laundering, and sentenced to 10 years in prison, according to the Associated Press.

He was transferred earlier this year to the immigration detention facility at Oakdale, where he is being held without bond.

Two other Chinese convicted on lesser charges were deported.