On the first anniversary of her sentencing, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) issued a renewed call for Chinese journalist Sophia Huang Xueqin’s immediate release. Huang, whose work helped ignite China’s #MeToo movement, was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of inciting “subversion of state power.”

RSF condemned the verdict as arbitrary and politically motivated, stating that Huang had already endured more than 500 days of pretrial detention, much of it in solitary confinement. RSF emphasized that her work as a journalist and advocate does not constitute a crime and that her imprisonment represents a broader assault on press freedom and feminist activism in China.

In 2018, Huang became one of the earliest and most vocal figures in China’s #MeToo movement after she published a survey revealing the prevalence of sexual harassment in Chinese newsrooms. Her reporting drew national attention and helped empower survivors to speak out against abuse on university campuses and in the workplace. Despite growing state surveillance, she continued her activism, offering support to victims in high-profile misconduct cases and advocating for broader gender equality.

In September 2021, Huang was detained alongside labor rights advocate Wang Jianbing. The two were arrested just days before departing China to pursue further education abroad. Huang’s five-year sentence followed a closed-door trial where she was convicted of “subversion of the state.”

The United States have denounced the convictions of both Huang and Wang. The US State Department described the case as part of the Chinese government’s ongoing efforts to intimidate and silence civil society. Officials demanded the activists’ immediate release and warned that such prosecutions threaten fundamental rights of expression and assembly.

Huang’s case is widely seen as emblematic of a broader pattern in China, where activists, journalists, and lawyers are increasingly prosecuted under national security laws designed to suppress dissent. Now entering her second year behind bars, Huang has become a global symbol of resistance against authoritarianism and gender-based repression. Her supporters continue to call for international advocacy to keep her case in the spotlight.