Calls grow for US to dismiss ‘Nasa lies’ case of Hu Anming, as critics cite ‘racial bias’ in accusation that he hid ties to Chinese university

Group ‘outraged’ at plan to retry Hu for wire fraud and lying to Nasa about Beijing University of Technology link, after previous trial fell apart

‘What happened to Professor Hu and his family is part of systemic racial bias,’ says letter backing scientist, who was earlier accused of being a Beijing spy

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Former University of Tennessee associate professor Hu Anming has been accused of wire fraud and lying to Nasa about his ties to Beijing University of Technology. Photo: Blount County Sheriff’s Office

Published: 1:10am, 21 Aug 2021Updated: 6:47am, 21 Aug 2021

Civil rights organisations and academics sent letters in recent weeks to a US federal court, urging the judge to acquit former University of Tennessee professor Hu Anming – who is accused of lying to Nasa about his China ties and committing wire fraud — without retrying the case.

On Friday, advocacy group APA Justice Task Force sent a letter to Judge Thomas Varlan of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, who presides over the case, to express “outrage to the Department of Justice’s intent to retry” the case, and calling for it to be dismissed. Nine other organisations including Asian Americans Advancing Justice and Asian-American Community Service Council co-signed the letter.

The Department of Justice first investigated Hu, a tenured professor at the university’s department of mechanical, aerospace and biomedical engineering, on suspicion that he spied for China.

When the US government brought charges against Hu in February 2020, it dropped the espionage case, and instead charged him with wire fraud and making false statements for hiding his relationship with the Beijing University of Technology in grant applications he had made to Nasa.

The US government charged Hu Anming with wire fraud and making false statements when applying for grants from Nasa. His case ended in a mistrial. Photo: Reuters

Hu’s case ended in a mistrial after the jury said it could not agree on whether to convict him. The US government said they would pursue a retrial at the end of last month.