SYDNEY: China has released Australian journalist Cheng Lei after more than three years, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Wednesday (Oct 11), adding that she was freed from detention and reunited with her two young children in Melbourne.
“The Australian people very much wanted to see Cheng Lei reunited with her young kids,” Albanese said.
Cheng, a former presenter for Chinese state broadcaster CGTN, had been detained since August 2020.
She was only formally arrested months later and eventually charged with “supplying state secrets overseas” in a case that many saw as politically motivated.
The mother of two had been a familiar face on the state broadcaster’s English-language channel, conducting interviews with noted CEOs from around the world.
Born in Hunan province, Cheng is now an Australian national who emigrated to the country as a child, before returning to China and joining the state broadcaster in 2012.
China does not allow citizens to hold dual nationality.
She was tried behind closed doors, with even Australia’s ambassador to China blocked from entering the court to observe proceedings.
Australia’s government had long campaigned for her release, and for China to follow “basic standards of justice, procedural fairness and humane treatment”.
Source: CNA
