BEIJING — A Chinese-Australian journalist who worked for China’s state broadcaster and was convicted on murky espionage charges has spoken out about the harsh conditions of her detention.
Cheng Lei has been held for three years, and although found guilty on national security charges at a closed-door trial last year, has yet to be sentenced.
She is allowed to stand in the sunlight for only 10 hours a year, hasn't seen a tree since she was detained, and deeply misses her daughter and son, now entering high school, Cheng said in a statement conveyed to an Australian diplomat and released to local media.
“I relive every bushwalk, river, lake, beach with swims and picnics and psychedelic sunsets, sky that is lit up with stars, and the silent and secret symphony of the bush,” Cheng said in the statement published by broadcaster ABC.
“I secretly mouth the names of places I’ve visited and driven through,” she said. “It is the Chinese in me that has probably gone beyond the legal limit of sentimentality. Most of all, I miss my children.”
Attempts to independently confirm the statement with the Australian government were unsuccessful.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke out on Cheng's behalf last month, saying she was being held “without proper process.”
Cheng, 48, moved with her family to Australia at age 10. She returned to China to work for the international department of state broadcaster CCTV. The details behind her detention and trial remain sealed. China's authoritarian system gives prosecutors broad powers to level charges of spying or leaking state secrets with little or no evidence, and Cheng could face years of prison.
Chinese authorities have also been accused of holding foreign nationals, particularly those born in the country, to obtain diplomatic gains or the return of Chinese citizens abroad wanted on a variety of charges. China's relations with Australia have recently improved after China put them on freeze over Canberra's accusations of Chinese political interference and intimidation of the local Chinese community.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
