She had been in the crosshairs of the authorities since her participation in the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement in 2019. A prison sentence which illustrates that the Chinese power still heavily represses civil society.
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In China, this is a new blow against human rights activists and in particular those who defend women’s rights. A Canton court on Friday June 14 sentenced journalist and feminist Huang Xueqin to five years in prison, who tried in 2018 to launch the #MeToo movement in China. She was on trial for inciting subversion of the state, a heavy sentence which illustrates the repression that Chinese power continues to exercise on civil society.
Huang Xueqin was in the crosshairs of the authorities for participating in pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2019, which led to his first arrest. But the 36-year-old Chinese woman has been under scrutiny since 2018, since she was one of the first women in China to try to relay the MeToo movement. The activist creates an online platform on the WeChat network, which allows Chinese women to testify, and also carries out surveys showing that sexual harassment in China is common and unpunished.
Justice accuses him of having taken advantage of this cause to attack power. At the hearing, the prosecutor accused her, according to her supporters, of having organized regular meetings in Canton with the aim of undermining the authority of the state. This heavy sentence demonstrates that feminism remains a highly sensitive subject in China, in a patriarchal society and where very active censorship on social networks still prevents the large-scale dissemination of the ideas of the MeToo movement.
Huang Xueqin was on trial alongside a union activist who was sentenced to three years and six months in prison on the same charge, inciting subversion of the state.
