China: We denounce the arrest of Chinese journalist Sophia Huang Xueqin

November 23, 2019 — The Coalition For Women In Journalism condemns the arrest of independent journalist and feminist, Sophia Huang Xueqin, who has been in police custody in China’s Guangzhou city after she was summoned on October 17.

She has been imprisoned on public order charges for "picking quarrels and provoking troubles". Her arrest took place a couple of months after she covered the protest movement in Hong Kong. We demand the Chinese authorities to revoke the charges and release our colleague immediately.

Sophia is one of the most prominent journalists and leading feminists in China who is widely known for her reporting on the country’s #MeToo movement that she herself pioneered. The charges pressed against our colleague are very serious, often used by authorities to detain social activists and dissidents in China, and can possibly land them in prison for up to five years. Sophia is currently held at the Baiyun District Detention Centre and her family and friends are not allowed to visit.

A petition to release the journalist is also doing the rounds on social media in order to get the word out about her current situation, as the journalist has not been in contact with anyone ever since she was detained.

We are concerned for Sophia’s safety and security while she’s under arrest for merely doing her job as a journalist. After she was imprisoned in October, Sophia’s family has no news of her. The way Sophia is being treated, by not being allowed to connect or meet with her family, is absolutely inhumane and a violation of human rights. We urge the Chinese government to allow Sophia’s family access to her in these trying times.

The journalist was only doing her job and this act by Chinese authorities is nothing but a way to conceal the work she has been doing. It has been more than two months and Sophia is still languishing in the custody of Chinese police for the vague charges that China has been using against those working for social justice and civic freedoms in the country.

It is unfathomable for us to imagine the voice for someone as courageous as Sophia being silenced. The 30-year-old’s work is important, not just as a journalist who has covered crucial stories such as the on-going protests in Hong Kong, but also as the founder of the #MeToo movement in a country as totalitarian as China. Sophia shared her personal experience of workplace harassment publicly in 2017, after she quit working for the state media in Guangzhou. She became a symbol of courage for other women across China and urged them to come forward with their own account, which eventually led to numerous university academics being disciplined and sacked.

We laud Sophia’s efforts for conducting surveys of women journalists in mainland China in 2017, in order to gauge the level of sexual harassment within the industry. She also initiated an online platform to collect information and experiences of sexual harassment victims using the hashtag #WoYeShi.

The authorities had monitored Sophia’s activities, since her passport was confiscated in August when she returned to China after her six-month-long academic trip to the U.S., Hong Kong and Taiwan. The journalist had planned to go to Hong Kong in September for her law studies, but she was not allowed to leave the mainland China territory. Sophia shared photographs of the Hong Kong protests on her social media before being taken into custody, but it is still unclear if her arrest is linked with it. The country has maintained severe censorship of information regarding the protests taking place in the special Chinese administrative region, which is currently in the news for its now-withdrawn extradition bill for dealing with cross-border absconders.

We, at The Coalition For Women In Journalism, want to see our colleague free and urge the authorities in China to release her on an immediate basis. According to CFWIJ’s documentation, seven women journalists are languishing in jails across China. It is high time for China to rethink its policies and allow freedom of speech and expression to flourish in the country.

The country needs to develop a thick skin in order to be open to criticism and understand the issues of people living in China and the wider region. China’s authoritarian manner of imposing strict censorship and policies are reflective of regressive values.

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The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world, and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.

Follow us on Instagram @womeninjournalism and Twitter @CFWIJ.

Our website is WomenInJournalism.org and we can be reached at press@womeninjournalism.org