The international non-profit and non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for the immediate release of Chinese-born Swedish book publisher and writer Gui Minhai and two other foreign journalists, Cheng Lei and Yang Hengjun. All three foreign journalists were in recent years arrested on the accusation of espionage and still detained by the Chinese regime.
RSF aims of safeguarding the right to freedom of information and RSF East Asia Bureau head, Cédric Alvianistates states, “By keeping three foreign journalists in detention under the accusation of espionage, President Xi Jinping sends a very clear message that China is not afraid to go after any independent voices, regardless of their passport or place of residence”.
Moreover, Cédric Alvianistates calls on the international community “to build up pressure to compel China to respect international law and to secure the immediate release of Cheng Lei, Yang Hengjun, Gui Minhai, and all other detained journalists and press freedom defenders.”
In February last year, Gui Minhai was sentenced to ten years in prison, a sentence that the Swedish government refused to accept and protested against. At the same time, China claimed that he became a Chinese citizen while in prison.
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