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A court in southern China has found a prominent feminist journalist guilty of endangering state security and sentenced her to five years in prison, in Beijing’s latest crackdown on civil society. A labor activist was sentenced to three years and six months in prison for the same crime.
The activities that led to the arrest and conviction of Huang Xueqin and Wang Jianbing included organizing discussions, providing support to other activists, and receiving training abroad. The subversion charges and verdicts handed down by the Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court were confirmed by Reporters Without Borders and Committee to Protect Journalists.
Experts say the legal proceedings against Ms. Huang and Mr. Wang are harsh even by Chinese standards and show that space for independent discussion of social issues is shrinking.
“We’ve seen China take a zero-tolerance approach to even the most benign forms of civil society activism,” said Thomas Kellogg, executive director of the Georgetown Asia Law Center. “This case is an example of that.”
Ms. Huang, 35, was a freelance journalist who became a prominent voice of China’s #MeToo movement, helping women report cases of sexual harassment. He later traveled to Hong Kong and wrote about local anti-government protests. Mr. Wang, 40, is a long-time activist for workers’ and disabled rights. He also helps #MeToo victims speak out.
Ms Huang and Mr Wang were arrested in 2021 and spent two years in unusually lengthy pre-trial detention. Their trial last September last year lasted just one day.
Although China’s Criminal Procedure Law stipulates that the maximum waiting period is three months, which can be extended by three months in special circumstances, the judgment was not made until nine months later.
Experts say the charge of “inciting subversion,” a national security crime that carries harsher penalties than other charges typically levelled against activists, shows a recent government effort to suppress discussion of issues such as women’s and workers’ rights. More than a decade ago, forums on such topics were tolerated and even encouraged, said Yaqiu Wang, director of Hong Kong, China and Taiwan research at Freedom House, a Washington-based nonprofit.
“Anything the government doesn’t like is framed as a challenge to the Communist Party and an accusation against national security,” Ms. Wang said.
Details about the case are not public. But many legal documents related to him have been posted on a GitHub page run by supporters and confirmed by the human rights group China Defenders. When reached by phone on Friday, a spokesman for the Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court declined to provide information.
According to an indictment shared by supporters, the charges against the two were based on a number of actions, including hosting social gatherings and participating in online courses on “non-violent movements” abroad. Friends of the defendants said the meetings often focused on topics such as the #MeToo movement, gay rights and workers’ working conditions.
Huang became a central figure in China’s #MeToo movement in early 2018 when she set up an online platform for people to post their experiences of sexual harassment. It also organized surveys showing that sexual harassment was widespread and unpunished in universities and workplaces.
The movement has since been crushed as state censors stifle online discussion and suppress public support. The party has accused feminists of aiding what it calls “foreign hostile forces” and officials have warned some activists they will be considered traitors if they speak out.
Wang focuses on providing education and legal support to workers with occupational diseases and physical disabilities. Recently, she has organized discussions where activists can share their struggles and support each other.
The Communist Party has punished activists, lawyers, BroadCast Unitedlectuals and even tycoons who champion free speech and political rights since Xi Jinping came to power in 2012. Dozens of activists have faced lengthy pretrial detention and harsh prison sentences.
But Friday’s ruling shows a growing awareness of the dangers to public order.
“In the past, people accused of inciting subversion would often say something about democracy or the rule of law,” said Ms. Wang of Freedom House. “Huang Xueqin and Wang Jianbing were very focused on helping victims and fostering communities of marginalized people. They didn’t talk about politics.”
The day before Ms. Huang was scheduled to leave China for the U.K. to begin a master’s program in gender studies, authorities detained the two at Mr. Wang’s home in Guangzhou. Both were held for 47 days without access to lawyers before formal arrest notices were issued to family and friends, according to Chinese rights activists.
Dozens of friends of Mr. Wang and Ms. Huang were arrested and interrogated, and many were forced to sign testimonies against them, according to Chinese rights activists.
Soon after Mr Wang was taken away, his father made a video appealing to the authorities.
“My son is not a bad person,” his father, Wang Zhixue, said in the video, which was posted online by supporters of Mr. Wang and Ms. Huang. “He has contributed a lot to society through public welfare. What harm will it bring to society?”
In late 2019, Ms. Huang was detained by police in Guangzhou on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble and disturbing public order,” less serious charges that the government has used in the past to silence activists like her.
She was detained for three months. “I am Xueqin, I am back,” he wrote in a message to a friend after being released from prison in 2020. “One second of darkness will not make people blind.”
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