A Chinese flag flutters in front a courthouse in Beijing, China, on September 22, 2016. A court in Hubei province today sentenced human rights journalist Liu Feiyue to a five-year prison term. (Damir Sagolj/Reuters)
A Chinese flag flutters in front a courthouse in Beijing, China, on September 22, 2016. A court in Hubei province today sentenced human rights journalist Liu Feiyue to a five-year prison term. (Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

CPJ condemns conviction of human rights journalist Liu Feiyue in China

Taipei, January 29, 2019–The Suizhou Intermediate People’s Court in Hubei province today sentenced Liu Feiyue, founder of the human rights news website Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch, known in Chinese as Minsheng Guancha, to a five-year jail term for inciting state subversion, according to news reports.

“The harsh sentencing of Liu Feiyue illustrates how frightened and desperate Chinese leaders are to prevent the truth about their horrible record on human rights from being revealed,” said Steven Butler, Asia program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists. “Liu Feiyue should be lauded for performing an important service in defense of the Chinese people, not locked away in prison.”

At least 47 journalists were imprisoned in China at the end of 2018, making it the second largest jailer of journalists worldwide, after Turkey.