Chinese journalist Sophia Huang Xueqin has been detained since September 2021, and in June 2024 was sentenced to five years in prison for “inciting subversion of state power.”
Huang, a freelance journalist who covered feminism and social issues on her personal blog and social media, rose to prominence after her reporting about sexual harassment on campuses and in the media industry helped spark China’s #MeToo movement. She previously worked as an investigative reporter for Chinese-language outlets Xinquaibao and Southern Metropolis Weekly.
On September 19, 2021, Huang and labor activist Wang Jianbing lost contact with friends right before they were scheduled to board a plane from the southern city of Guangzhou for Shenzhen, according to news reports, which said that Huang planned to fly from Hong Kong to London on September 20 to study for a master’s degree at the University of Sussex. The friends feared that they may have been detained by police.
On September 27, 2021, U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Asia reported, quoting an unnamed source, that both had been detained for allegedly “inciting subversion of state power” and were being held under “residential surveillance at a designated location,” a form of extrajudicial detention.
On November 5, a website founded by Huang and Wang’s friends, Free Huang XueQin & Wang JianBing, reported that Wang’s family had received an arrest notice from the Guangzhou Public Security Bureau, accusing Wang of inciting subversion of state power. According to the report, Huang’s family also received a similar notice in late October.
Previously, in October 2019, police in Guangzhou detained Huang and accused her of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” according to news reports and a friend of the journalist who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal from authorities. Huang was later released in January 2020, according to news reports.
On September 22, 2023, Huang and Wang were put on trial for “inciting subversion of state power” in Guangzhou. According to the indictment, published on the social platform X by the Free Huang XueQin & Wang JianBing site, the prosecution accused Huang of publishing distorted and inflammatory articles to attack the Chinese government, publicly attacking and smearing Chinese authorities while attending a foreign virtual media conference, participating in courses that contain state subversion content, and organizing online courses that incite dissatisfaction with the country.
On June 14, 2024, a Guangzhou city court sentenced Huang to five years in prison on the charge of "inciting subversion of state power." The verdict was widely condemned, including by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk and the U.S. State Department.
Huang challenged the guilty verdict through an appeal. On September 10, without conducting a trial, the Guangdong Province Higher People’s Court upheld the initial guilty verdict and the five-year sentence.
On October 17, Huang was transferred to the Guangdong Province Women’s Prison. Huang suffers from calcium deficiency and sudden weight loss, according to her friends who spoke to CPJ and the Free Huang XueQin & Wang JianBing support group. The group said she had also suffered other health issues behind bars that were likely linked to prolonged interrogations in the “tiger chair” used by Chinese police to restrain detainees.
CPJ’s request for comment to the Guangzhou Public Security Bureau sent in late 2024 via messaging app did not receive any response.