When Chen Kun learned from his brother that he had been taken away for investigation by Chinese police, he was living in Indonesia with his wife and daughter.
He suspected it was his brother's website, which was called Terminus 2049. The articles about migrant rights and the #Me Too movement were deleted from China's online platforms, but Mei, Cai, and Tang were able to re-post them. The Covid-19 outbreak and response was the focus of stories for the last few months.
In an interview with the Guardian from his home in France, Chen recalled warning his shy but passionate younger brother about setting up such a website, but thinking the worst case scenario was that he would be invited to drink tea and not arrested.
They spent almost 16 months in jail. Tang was released in May after the other two were found guilty. They were sentenced to 15 months jail and were released in August. There is a chance that she is still under watch.
The group is on a growing list of journalists and others who have been arrested and held without trial by Chinese authorities.
The Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reported in December that there had been a worsening of a nightmare for journalists under the rule of the Chinese leader. At least 10 people were arrested for reporting on the Covid outbreak and the lock down in Wuhan, and more than 70 are Uyghur journalists.
Chen said that it was a sign of how sensitive Chinese authorities were about the Pandemic.
The reason my brother was arrested was because of Covid. They didn't have any problems before his arrest.
There is a war on independent journalism.
China has a vague and ubiquitous charge ofpicking quarrels and provoking trouble, which is often used against dissidents, activists and journalists, as well as sending the accused to a secluded location for solitary confinement.
Safeguard Defenders believes between 50,000 and 55,000 people have been sent to the Rehabilitation and Services for the Blind. The Australian anchor Cheng Lei, the journalist Sophia Huang Xueqin, and the activist Wang Jianbing are some of the people who have been there.
In August, he and his colleagues were freed, and he is now living in China. Chen says that neither his brother nor their parents are aware that he is campaigning for those still in jail.
A man is reading a newspaper. Kevin Frayer is a photographer.
As well as reporting on the #MeToo movement and the Hong Kong protests, she had also interviewed Chen and written about him.
Chen said that she was always trying to record the stories and experiences of people like her brother.
The independent investigative journalist has not been seen since she and Wang were arrested in September on the eve of her planned departure to study in Europe. She was arrested for subverting state power in October.
A former lawyer turned citizen reporter, who was sentenced to four years in jail last Christmas for posting 122 videos online and giving interviews to foreign press, is also subject to human rights campaigns. Her family says that she is close to death because no friends or family can stop her hunger strike.
While human rights observers, legal groups, and media organizations maintain that she should never have been convicted in the first place, an international campaign is calling for her release to save her life.
