Chinese #Metoo journalist jailed for five years
Beijing: A Chinese journalist who promoted women’s rights as part of the country’s nascent #Metoo movement has been sentenced to five years in prison on charges of incitement to subvert state authority, almost three years after she and an activist were detained.
The verdict stated Huang Xueqin would also face a fine of 100,000 yuan (about £10,800), underlining the ruling Communist Party’s intolerance of any activism outside its control in a system whose upper echelons are dominated by men.
China’s #Metoo movement flourished briefly before being snuffed out by the government. The country often silences activists by holding them incommunicado for a long time and then sentencing them to prison.
Ms Huang’s release date was listed as September 18, 2026, accounting for her earlier detention.
Co-defendant Wang Jianbing was sentenced to three years and six months on the same charge. He is more known for his labour rights activity but also helped women report sexual harassment.
Working as an freelance journalist, Ms Huang helped spark China’s first #Metoo case in 2018 when she publicised allegations of sexual harassment made by a graduate student against her PHD supervisor at one of China’s most prestigious universities.
Friends say she and Mr Wang disappeared on September 19, 2021, a day before Ms Huang was scheduled to fly to the UK to start a Master’s degree on gender violence and conflict at the University of Sussex. They went on trial in September 2023.
Pretoria: The leader of South Africa’s second-biggest party has said it will back Cyril Ramaphosa for President – almost guaranteeing he will be elected for a second term.
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen said his party has formally signed a coalition agreement with Mr Ramaphosa’s African National Congress (ANC), and part of the agreement stipulates Mr Ramaphosa will be President.
The ANC and DA together have a majority that would see Mr Ramaphosa return for a second term.
Vienna: Iran has started up new cascades of advanced centrifuges and plans to install others in the coming weeks after facing criticism over its nuclear programme, the United Nations’ atomic watchdog said.
The US called the moves “nuclear escalations”.
Spinning up new centrifuges further advances Iran’s nuclear programme, which already enriches uranium at nearweapons-grade levels and boasts a stockpile enough for several nuclear bombs if it chose to pursue them.
However, the acknowledgement from the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria, did not include any suggestion Iran planned to go to higher enrichment levels.
New York: The heads of six UN agencies and three international humanitarian organisations have issued a joint appeal to Yemen’s Houthi rebels for the immediate release of 17 of their staff.
The workers were detained along with many others also being held by the Iranian-backed group.
The Houthis said on Monday they had arrested members of an “American-israeli spy network”, days after detaining the staffers from the UN and aid organisations.