A former Chinese justice minister died this month after unsuccessfully appealing to top government leaders to free his son who was jailed for spying for Britain, state media and a source close to the family said.
Cai Cheng, who served as justice minister from 1988 to 1993, died in Beijing on Sept. 2 of unspecified illness, state news agency Xinhua said on Tuesday. He was 82.
President Hu Jintao and his predecessor Jiang Zemin “used different methods to express their sympathy and condolences” to the family, Xinhua said. It did not give a reason for the two-week delay in reporting Cai’s death.