Chinese #MeToo activist sentenced to 5 years in prison

BEIJING

Chinese journalist and #Metoo activist Sophia Huang Xueqin was sentenced to five years in prison on June 14 on charges of "inciting subversion of state power" after she became a symbol of the country's stalled feminist movement.

She was sentenced alongside labor activist Wang Jianbing, who was handed three years and six months, a group of their supporters said on social media platform X.

Huang wrote on social media about her experience of workplace sexual harassment as a young journalist at a Chinese news agency, in the wake of the global #MeToo movement.

With Wang, she was involved in running a regular gathering in the southern city of Guangzhou, a member of the supporters' group told AFP last year, before they were both detained in 2021.

On June 14, the court said the meetings, which took place from November 2020, "incited participants' dissatisfaction with Chinese state power under the pretext of discussing social issues", according to the "Free Huang XueQin & Wang JianBing" group.

Their trial took place in 2023 behind closed doors.

Huang had been previously held by authorities, after returning from reporting on Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests in 2019.

She had been due to start studying in the United Kingdom when she was detained again in 2021.

Wang, described as a "low-profile veteran" labor activist by friends, was accused on June 14 of posting "untrue articles and speeches attacking China's political system and government."

He had also joined "[subversive] overseas online groups" including one commemorating the deadly Tiananmen Square crackdown of 1989, the court was quoted as saying.