Chinese #MeToo activist jailed for five years for subversion
Al Jazeera
Journalist Sophia Huang Xueqin was detained in 2021 with labour activist Wang Jianbing who was jailed three years and six months.
Prominent #MeToo activist and journalist Sophia Huang Xueqin has been jailed for five years by a court in southern China after being found guilty of “inciting subversion of state power”.
Labour activist Wang Jianbing, who stood trial with Huang, was sentenced to three years and six months in prison after being found guilty of the same charge at the Guangzhou Intermediate Court on Friday, according to a statement from the Free Huang Xueqin and Wang Jianbing group.
It added that 35-year-old Huang told the court she would appeal. It was not clear whether Wang, 40, planned to do the same.
“[The sentence] was longer than we expected,” a spokesperson for the group told the Reuters news agency, asking to remain anonymous for safety reasons. “I don’t think it should have been this severe, and it is completely unnecessary. So we support Huang Xueqin’s intention to appeal.”
In the run-up to their arrest in September 2021, Huang was involved in several #MeToo campaigns in China that provided support to survivors of sexual assault and harassment, while Wang was also a prominent #MeToo supporter and provided legal support for people with disabilities and workers with occupational diseases.
