Location: China, Beijing
Date: March 31, 2022

A Chinese court deferred its verdict on a national security case against Australian journalist Cheng Lei after a three-hour long closed-door trial on March 31, 2022. The hearing was the Chinese-born journalist’s first court appearance after being detained in August 2020 amid worsening diplomatic relations between the two countries. The Coalition For Women In Journalism reiterates its call for Cheng’s release. The journalist’s prolonged detention under an ambiguous charge and the apparent lack of transparency during trial are deeply worrying. 

Cheng, who worked as a business news anchor for Chinese state-affiliated media group China Global Television (CGTN), was first detained on August 14, 2020, with no warrant or legal cause disclosed. She was held under "residential surveillance at a designated location”. The journalist waited for more than six months in pre-trial detention without knowing the accusations against her. 

After almost half a year of holding her incommunicado without access to a lawyer, the Chinese police officially arrested the CGTN news anchor on February 8, 2021 and charged her. Shortly after, the Chinese authorities confirmed that a formal investigation against the journalist under charges of “illegally supplying state secrets overseas” had begun. 

Cheng’s first and only hearing thus far was held in a closed-courtroom with foreign journalists and diplomats, including the Australian envoy in Beijing, Graham Fletcher, denied entry. 

“The closed court trial of Australian Cheng Lei lasted less than 3 hours. Those involved are barred from sharing  details of the allegations, her plea or defense,” wrote Australian Broadcasting Group’s (ABC) East Asia Correspondent Bill Birtles on Twitter. “She was brought to the court in full heavy duty PPE despite Beijing recording no local cases in latest daily figures.”

British public broadcaster BBC’s China correspondent Stephen McDonell gave a similar account of the hearing. “There was a lot of global media interest when Australia’s Ambassador to China approached the court to try to gain access to Cheng Lei’s trial,” he wrote on Twitter, sharing video footage of the scenes outside the courtroom. 

“We can have no confidence in the validity of a process being carried out in secret,” McDonell quoted Fletcher, as saying after the envoy was denied entry.

"We expect basic standards of justice, procedural fairness and humane treatment to be met, in accordance with international norms,” Fletcher told the media, after being denied entry. 

Australia has earlier raised concerns about the "lack of transparency" in Cheng’s case while her family maintains that the journalist is innocent. 

Meanwhile, Chinese officials maintained that trials involving state secrets were not open to the public. National security trials in China, where the judicial system has a conviction rate of over 99%, are often conducted speedily and in secret, with decisions announced unpredictably and at times long after the trial. 

The charge against Cheng typically carries a sentence of five to 10 years but depending on how severe the court deems the case against her, she faces a sentence that could be extended to life imprisonment. 

Cheng was born in China but moved to Australia as a child. She started to build her career first with CNBC and moved as a television anchor to China’s English-language channel CGTN. Detained amid worsening diplomatic relations between Australia and China, she is one of three foreign journalists imprisoned in China under the same charge. Many perceive Cheng’s arrest as politically motivated. 

The nature of Cheng’s arrest and the fraying diplomatic ties between the two countries cast doubt on the charges against her. It is deeply worrying that members of the press are being made targets by governments of either country. Moreover, Beijing's onslaught against the independent press has disproportionately impacted women journalists. In 2021, the CFWIJ found China to be the worst jailer of women journalists with at least 17 incarcerated. 

The Coalition For Women In Journalism condemns Cheng Lei’s prolonged imprisonment and demands her immediate release. We urge the judicial and state authorities to respect the freedom of the press and drop all baseless charges against the journalist. The manner of her detention and subsequent arrest, under trumped up charges, which allow the state to skirt transparency under the pretext of national security, do not go amiss. They indicate a deliberately drawn out judicial process wherein the trial itself serves as punishment. The state’s abuse of law to silence journalists and serve its own political purposes is a matter of grave concern. 

The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.

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