September 15, 2026 — Sixty civil-society organizations called on Chinese authorities to ensure journalist and #MeToo advocate Sophia Huang Xueqin (黄雪琴) is released as she completes her five-year prison sentence and is not subjected to arbitrary restrictions afterward.
The joint statement published by Freedom House says Huang is expected to be released on September 18. It calls for freedom of movement, expression, press, association and peaceful assembly, and asks that she not face surveillance, harassment, retaliation or communications restrictions.
Huang and labor-rights activist Wang Jianbing were detained in Guangzhou in September 2021 and convicted in June 2024 of “inciting subversion of state power.” Wang was released in March 2025. Huang also received four years’ deprivation of political rights.
The signatories describe the conviction as punishment for exercising protected rights. Chinese authorities generally defend national-security prosecutions as lawful measures necessary to protect state security.