Five years in prison for a Chinese #MeToo journalist.

In 2021, Sophia Huang Xueqin, then 36, was detained while travelling to the UK for academic purposes.

A well-known female proponent of the MeToo movement in China received a five-year prison term for "subversion against the state". Friday saw the sentencing and conviction of Sophia Huang Xueqin, over ten months after her trial began. Wang Jianbing, a labour activist who was tried alongside Ms. Huang, received a sentence of three years and six months in jail. One of the most well-known voices in China's #MeToo movement, Ms. Huang, 36, broke groundbreaking stories about victims of sexual abuse.

She had also made public the sexism and misogyny she encountered in Chinese newsrooms. The accusations of subversion against the two have not been clarified by Chinese officials. The trial took place behind closed doors. However, supporters of the group claim they were arrested because they regularly arranged gatherings and forums for young people to engage in social issue discussion. When Ms. Huang was arrested at the airport in Guangzhou in 2021, she was her route to begin her master's programme at the University of Sussex, which was financed by the UK government.

That was while she was with Mr. Wang, forty. During their nearly 1,000-day pre-detention imprisonment, supporters claim that each had spent months in solitary confinement. September 2023 was the start of their experiment. According to a BBC Eye investigation conducted in 2022, both were being imprisoned in secret sites known as "black jails," where they were subjected to solitary confinement. Chinese authorities began to crack down on a number of activists operating in various industries in 2021 amid Covid lockdowns and mounting public unrest. "This unjust trial will not negate their efforts and dedication to labour, women's rights, and the broader civil society, nor will society forget their contributions," the campaign group Free Huang Xueqin and Wang Jianbing stated.

"On the contrary, as oppression persists and injustice grows, more activists like them will continue to rise." The convictions were described as "malicious and totally groundless" by Amnesty International on Friday. Sarah Brooks, the China director for Amnesty International, said, "[They] demonstrate just how afraid the Chinese government is of the new wave of activists who dare to speak out to protect the rights of others." "#MeToo activism has empowered survivors of sexual violence around the world, but in this case, the Chinese authorities have sought to do the exact opposite by stamping it out." It's unclear if the two's already completed time will be applied towards a reduction in their sentence.

Previous responses from the public to Ms. Huang's trial were divided; although some online criticised the case, others who were sceptical of the feminist movement applauded it. In China, a large number of activists for social causes and gender rights want to stay anonymous online. They have frequently been called "agents of hostile western forces" by nationalists on the internet and by official media.