Ziyang in coma

ZHAO Ziyang, the Chinese Communist Party leader deposed after he sympathised with the bloody 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, is in a deep coma and may be near death, a human rights activist said.

Zhao, 85, went into shock related to a lung ailment on Friday evening and was given emergency treatment, Hong Kong-based activist Frank Lu said.

Zhao was last seen in public on May 19, 1989, when he visited the square to talk to the student hunger strikers, one day before martial law was declared.