Australian journalist Cheng Lei, who has been jailed in China for three years, said she misses her children and the sun in a rare message released Thursday during a consulate visit.
“Most of all, I miss my children,” she said in this message, shared by Australian media and boyfriend Nick Coyle on X (ex-Twitter), just ahead of the third anniversary of her incarceration.
And “I miss the sun” even in detention, she says.
“The sun shines through my cell window, but I can only stand in the sun for ten hours a year,” she says, listing other difficult aspects of her imprisonment: I haven’t seen a tree in three years, airy bedding only once a year.. .
“But the Chinese in me has probably crossed the legal limits of sentimentality,” quipped Ms. Cheng, who describes herself as Australian.
Cheng Lei, who worked for the Chinese English-language public broadcaster CGTN, was arrested in August 2020. The mother of two, aged 9 and 11 at the time of her arrest, faces criminal charges for “disclosing overseas country secrets.” from Beijing, which gave no further details.
“She missed her daughter’s first return to college. His parents are not getting any younger and Lei is their only child. So time is becoming more and more precious,” Nick Coyle told the Sydney Morning Herald on Thursday.
Last year, Ms. Cheng’s partner said he was seriously concerned about a “series of health problems” she suffered in prison.
“Reunited with Her Children”
She was tried behind closed doors in March without the Australian Ambassador being able to attend the hearing. The sentence, which could reach up to life imprisonment, was reserved.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she questioned her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of an ASEAN summit about Cheng Lei and another Australian national, writer Yang Hengjun, who are also being detained in China under unclear circumstances.
“Australia has always stood up for Ms Cheng and has demanded that fundamental standards of justice, procedural fairness and humane treatment be upheld in line with international standards,” Penny Wong said in a statement on Friday.
“We will continue to support Ms. Cheng and her family and defend Ms. Cheng’s interests and well-being,” she said.
The whole country wishes for Ms. Cheng to be “reunited with her children,” she added.
China’s Foreign Ministry on Friday argued that the case was being handled “in strict accordance with the law” and Ms Cheng’s rights were fully protected.
“We hope that the Australian side will respect China’s judicial sovereignty and refrain from any kind of interference in the legal handling of the case by Chinese judicial authorities,” a spokesman told AFP in a written statement.
Relations between Australia and China, its largest trading partner, have eased recently after several years of feuding.
Notably, China last week announced the end of prohibitive tariffs imposed on Australian barley in 2020.