RSF calls for release of Chinese investigative journalist, Huang Xueqin
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for the immediate release of Chinese investigative journalist Huang Xueqin, who was arrested last week in the city of Guangzhou and is being held incommunicado.
Chinese independent journalist Huang Xueqin (Sophia Huang), famous for her involvement in the #MeToo movement in China, was arrested on 19th September, 2021 in the southern city of Guangzhou together with labour activist Wang Jianbing under suspicion of ‘inciting subversion of state power’. Huang, who was preparing to leave China to study in the United Kingdom, is believed to be held under "Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location" (RSDL), a term that refers to solitary confinement in the regime's "black prisons", in which the prisoners are often tortured.
“Huang Xueqin is a prominent journalist who was only serving the Chinese public interest by investigating social issues, and it is outrageous to suspect her of subversion”, insists Reporters Without Borders (RSF) East-Asia bureau head, Cédric Alviani, who calls for Huang’s “immediate release alongside all other journalists and press freedom defenders detained in China.”
Huang Xueqin was previously detained for three months in 2019 under the charge of ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble’ for covering the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.
China, ranked 177th out of 180 in the 2021 RSF World Press Freedom Index, is the world's largest captor of journalists with at least 122 detained.
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