China: Release Swedish publisher Gui Minhai now

Media 12 min read
China: Release Swedish publisher Gui Minhai now - Media

The undersigned press freedom, journalists’, human rights, and international organisations strongly condemn the Chinese government’s ongoing arbitrary detention of Swedish publisher and writer Gui Minhai on the 10th anniversary of his kidnapping.

On 17 October 2015, Gui Minhai, a founder of Hong Kong publishing house, was kidnapped by Chinese authorities in Thailand. In February 2020, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Ningbo Intermediate People’s Court on the alleged charge of ‘illegally providing intelligence to foreign countries’, which is regularly used to silence journalists and human rights defenders.

Details of his imprisonment have been kept hidden for the past five years. Gui Minhai has been denied access to his family and to consular support from the Swedish Embassy. His daughter has not been informed of his whereabouts since the date of the verdict. His current place of detention remains unknown, despite repeated requests by his daughter. The Government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has failed to clarify his whereabouts, further raising concerns about his physical and mental condition.

Since Mr. Gui’s conviction, Sweden has demanded the release of its citizen. However, Chinese authorities insisted that Mr. Gui had chosen not to appeal the sentence and that he had his Chinese citizenship reinstated at his own request. Under Swedish law, citizenship can only be renounced following an examination and a formal decision by the Swedish Migration Agency. The PRC’s coerced restoration of Mr. Gui’s Chinese nationality constitutes a violation of international law as well as Sweden’s sovereign rights. At the time of his arrest, Gui Minhai held only Swedish citizenship. In the past, Chinese officials have stated that foreign passports do not protect individuals who were born in the PRC, an interpretation that blatantly violates the Vienna Convention.

Mr. Gui was re-arrested while on his way to the Swedish Embassy in Beijing to be examined by a Swedish physician. He suffers from neurological symptoms that were not present before he was first taken into custody, after being rendered from Thailand to the PRC under unclear circumstances.

Throughout his detention, Gui Minhai has twice been subjected to televised forced confessions, further raising concerns about the legality of the proceedings against him. Chinese authorities are notorious for this practice, which undermines human dignity and violates the presumption of innocence that is supposedly guaranteed by the Chinese constitution.

The Gui Minhai case is emblematic of the Chinese regime’s campaign of repression against critical voices, as part of an escalating crackdown on the right to information since Chinese leader Xi Jinping came to power in 2012. China ranks 178th out of 180 in the 2025 Reporters without Borders (RSF)’s World Press Freedom Index, and is the world’s leading jailer of journalists and writers, according to data from RSF, and PEN America. It ranks ‘in crisis’ in ARTICLE 19’s Global Expression Report. 

Mr. Gui’s case is not an isolated one. Chinese authorities have systematically invoked “national security” as a pretext to prosecute human rights defenders, writers, publishers, and journalists—extending their reach beyond the PRC’s borders by launching police operations in neighboring countries—while the governments of third countries have bluntly allowed the repression of dissidents within their territories.

Domestically, restrictions on journalists and others who speak out against government abuses have tightened drastically, in direct contradiction of the right to freedom of expression and press guaranteed under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 35 of the Chinese Constitution.

Despite persistent calls from the international community for the immediate release of Gui Minhai, the Chinese government continues to ignore the urgency of the matter. This includes a November 2024 Communication from nine Special Procedures of the United Nations Human Rights Council concerning a recurring pattern of repression, including incommunicado detention and enforced disappearances, aimed at restricting the freedom of expression, which called for information on the fate and whereabouts of Gui Minhai, among others. His arbitrary detention makes a mockery of China’s international human rights obligations. Gui Minhai has committed no internationally recognised offence, yet has been subjected to harsh punishment solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression.

We urge the Chinese government to:

  • Immediately and unconditionally release Gui Minhai;
  • Guarantee Gui Minhai’s safety, psychological well-being, provide adequate and independent medical care, and share regular updates on his whereabouts and current place of detention;
  • Allow him unhindered access to contact with his daughter, Angela Gui, and other family members, including through video calls;
  • End the systemic crackdown on civil society, including harassment, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, and the targeting of publishers, journalists, writers, and human rights defenders.

We urge the Swedish government to:

  • Publicly and in bilateral meetings—including high-level meetings—call for the immediate release of Gui Minhai, in compliance with the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, which prohibits unlawful detention and guarantees personal dignity;
  • Demand transparency regarding his whereabouts and ensure full access to consular support and regular consular visits;
  • Clearly communicate to Chinese authorities that continued unlawful and arbitrary detention of Gui Minhai will have serious political consequences for bilateral relations, and condition any economic collaboration on his release.

We urge the European External Action Service (EEAS), the European Commission, and the Member States to:

  • Urge the immediate and unconditional release of Gui Minhai, demand transparency on his whereabouts, and communicate that opposite actions will have serious political consequences for bilateral relations;
  • Advocate for the release of arbitrarily detained journalists, writers, and human rights defenders, including using high-level meetings to publicly call for the release of specific individuals by name;
  • Closely monitor the human rights situation in China, including through prison visits, trial monitoring, and regular public statements;
  • Condition international law enforcement interactions and rule of law cooperation with the Chinese government on the government’s dropping all charges and quashing all convictions against those wrongfully detained for peacefully exercising or advocating human rights, including press freedom and right to information;
  • Remind China of its international obligations to respect press freedom and the right to information, as guaranteed by Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which China has signed, and Article 35 of the Chinese Constitution;
  • Establish safe refuge alert systems to provide a direct and easy-to-use communication with the police or immigration officers for Chinese publishers, writers, journalists and human rights defenders who are under the threat of transnational repression. 

We urge Thai authorities to:

  • Clarify the circumstances surrounding the unlawful rendition of Gui Minhai from Thailand to the People’s Republic of China;
  • Immediately cease all actions that facilitate the repression and persecution of human rights defenders, journalists, and advocates of press freedom by the PRC within Thailand;
  • End the deportation of Chinese human rights defenders and journalists to China, in accordance with the principle of non-refoulement, to which Thailand is bound.

 

Signatories:

 

  1. ACAT-France
  2. AlterMidya
  3. Amnesty International Australia
  4. ARTICLE 19
  5. Asia Freedom Institute
  6. Association of Taiwan Journalists (ATJ)
  7. Aus-Hong Kong Connex Inc.
  8. Bay Area Friends of Tibet
  9. Cambodian Center for Independent Media (CCIM)
  10. CamboJA
  11. Campaign for Uyghurs
  12. Center for Uyghur Studies
  13. China Against the Death Penalty (CADP)
  14. China Aid Association (ChinaAid)
  15. China Rights in Action (CRA)
  16. Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD)
  17. Comité de Apoyo al Tíbet (CAT), Spain
  18. Covenants Watch
  19. European Values Center for Security Policy Taiwan Office
  20. Fortify Rights
  21. Freedom House
  22. Freiheit für Hongkong e.V.
  23. Georgetown Center for Asian Law
  24. Gerakan Media Merdeka (GERAMM)
  25. Global Alliance for TIbet & Persecuted Minorities
  26. Globe International Center
  27. GreatFire
  28. Grupo de Apoio ao Tibete-Portugal
  29. Hong Kong Committee in Norway
  30. Hong Kong Democracy Council (HKDC)
  31. Hong Kong Media Overseas
  32. Hong Kong Outlanders in Taiwan
  33. Hong Kong Watch
  34. Hongkonger in Deutschland e. V.
  35. Hongkongers in Britain (HKB)
  36. Human Rights Foundation
  37. Human Rights in China
  38. Humanitarian China
  39. Independent Chinese PEN Center (ICPC)
  40. Index on Censorship
  41. International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
  42. International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
  43. Lady Liberty Hong Kong
  44. Legal Initiatives for Vietnam
  45. Media Diversity Institute
  46. National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP)
  47. New Bloom
  48. New Zealand Alliance for Victims of the Chinese Communist Regime
  49. Northern California Hong Kong Club
  50. Overseas Press Club of Cambodia (OPCC)
  51. Peace Catalyst International
  52. PEN America
  53. PEN International
  54. PEN Nederland
  55. Prachatai
  56. Reading UK Stands with Hong Kong
  57. Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
  58. Safeguard Defenders
  59. Santa Barbara Friends of Tibet
  60. Scottish Hongkongers
  61. Solidarité Chine
  62. Students for a Free Tibet
  63. Svensk Bokhandel
  64. Swedish Media Publishers’ Association
  65. Swedish PEN
  66. Taiwan Association for Human Rights
  67. Taiwan Economic Democracy Union
  68. The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
  69. The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation
  70. The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation
  71. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
  72. The European Hong Kong Diaspora Alliance
  73. The Hong Kong Scots
  74. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)
  75. The Nest Center for Journalism Innovation and Development
  76. The Rights Practice
  77. The Swedish Publishers Association
  78. The Swedish Tibet Committee
  79. The Swedish Union of Journalists
  80. The Tibet Support Committee, Denmark
  81. Tibet Initiative Deutschland e. V.
  82. Tibet Solidarity
  83. Tibet Support Group Ireland
  84. US Hongkongers Club
  85. Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP)
  86. Uyghur PEN Centre
  87. Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
  88. Victoria Hongkongers Association (Australia)
  89. World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
  90. World Uyghur Congress