Huang Xueqin: 25 Rights Groups Demand the Release of Chinese Investigative Journalist
Human Rights Reporters
2 min read
Image: RSF
Having been held unlawfully over a year, 25 human rights groups have called on the Chinese authorities to as a matter urgency protect the rights of and release Huang Xueqin, a known Chinese investigative journalist for reason of ‘subversion of state power” as well as a labor right defender, Wang Jianbing.
In a joint press release, the civil groups which include Reporters Without Borders, Amnesty International, China Against the Death Penalty, Human Rights in China, Uyghur Human Rights Project, among others, are calling on the Chinese authorities “to respect and protect their rights in detention, including access to legal counsel, unfettered communication with family members, their right to health and their right to bodily autonomy.”
As they further stress that the unlawful detention is rather arbitrary, and demand their immediate release and for authorities to allow them continue to carry out their work and make important contributions to social justice.
Huang Xueqin was a former journalist for the mainstream media in China who covered stories on public interest matters, women’s rights, corruption scandals, industrial pollution, and issues faced by socially-marginalized groups. She later begun reporting and supporting victims of gender-based violence and sexual harassments who spoke out as part of China’s version of the #MeToo Movement but was on October 19, 2019, stopped by the Guangzhou police and criminally detained in RSDL (Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location) for three months for posting online content in support of Hong Kong’s anti-extradition movement.
On his part Wang Jianbing, a labor right activist who for 16 years has been in the non-profit sector on issues ranging from education, disability, youth and to labor.
The Chinese investigative journalist with the labor champion were arrested and charged on 19th September, 2021 by police in Guangzhou on account that they were ‘inciting subversion of state power’ as authorities used the COVID-19 prevention measures as an excuse, to hold them “for five months in solitary confinement, and subjected to secret interrogation, in conditions similar to those of ‘residential surveillance in a designated location,’ they group reveals.
The 25 CSOs strongly condemned the lengthy detention of the two right defenders as they believe the Chinese investigative journalist, is not being guaranteed a fair trial. Many brave lawyers have risen to defend Huang but the group says it is alarmed “Huang has been prevented from appointing a lawyer of her choice.”
Among other demands, the human rights groups are calling on the government to in the case of Huang, the Chinese investigate journalist and Wang, the labor activist, ensure that they can freely access legal counsel of their own choosing, and protect the rights of lawyers to defend their clients. Also they demand the removal of all barriers to free communication between Huang and Wang and their families and friends, whether in writing or over telephone. Find out more here.
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