Swedish publisher Gui Minhai sentenced in China five years ago remains nowhere to be found
Sentenced by Chinese authorities on 24 February 2020 on bogus espionage charges, publisher Gui Minhai was forcibly disappeared by the Chinese regime. Despite his only daughter’s continued fight for his freedom, the Chinese authorities have given no updates on his whereabouts in five years. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) demands answers: where is Gui Minhai, a Swedish citizen, and why has he not received the consular protection he is entitled to under international conventions?
One of the founders of Mighty Current, a publishing house known for its investigations into Chinese politics, Gui Minhai has become an emblematic figure among the 124 journalists and press freedom defenders currently detained in China. He wrote and published books on politically sensitive topics, a crime in the eyes of the Chinese regime which abducted Gui Minhai in Thailand before sentencing him to 10 years in prison on bogus espionage charges.
“By not acting strongly enough, the international community has allowed the Chinese regime to assume they have the right to kidnap citizens of whichever country — anywhere in the world — arbitrarily detain them, and deny their right to consular protection. We call on the Swedish government and EU Member States to increase pressure on Beijing, and do everything in their power to ensure the detained publisher’s fate and whereabouts are made public — and that he is finally released.
Angela Gui, his only daughter, has not had any news about her father since the day he was sentenced. The Chinese authorities have consistently denied her any contact with the publisher, and claim that he is treated in a manner compliant with the law as a Chinese citizen, despite him having only a Swedish passport. As Angela Gui told RSF, “Other than the sentencing announcement, I've not had any updates on my father's situation for seven years. As his daughter, I'm very worried about his health, especially in light of what is known about torture and other mistreatment in Chinese prisons. Five years after his sentencing we don't know where he is or whether he is receiving the care that he needs."
On 17 October 2015, Gui Minhai was abducted by presumed Chinese intelligence agents in Thailand, where he was vacationing, only to reappear on Chinese state television three months later, delivering a forced confession. After two years, Gui was allegedly released from detention but, in reality, remained under strict surveillance by the Chinese state. In 2018, he was again seized by police on a Beijing-bound train while accompanied by two Swedish diplomats. Two years later, the Chinese regime announced that he had been sentenced to 10 years in prison for "illegally providing intelligence overseas.”
Gui Minhai was not the first person subjected to enforced disappearance after publishing texts that displeased Beijing. Between October and December 2015, four other publishers from Mighty Current went missing. All of them reappeared in the following years, but have remained silent on what happened to them out of fear.
Ranked 172nd out of 180 countries and territories in the 2024 RSF World Press Freedom Index, China is the world's largest jailer of journalists and press freedom defenders.
