Australian journalist says she was detained for 3 years in China for breaking an embargo

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian journalist Cheng Lei says she spent more than three years in detention in China for breaking an embargo with a television broadcast. Cheng‘s first television interview since she was freed was broadcast in Australia on Tuesday, almost a week after she returned to her mother and two children in Melbourne. The 48-year-old was an English-language anchor for state-run China Global Television Network in Beijing when she was detained in August 2020. She told Sky News Australia her offense was breaking a government-imposed embargo by a few minutes following a briefing by officials. China’s Ministry of State Security has said she was convicted of illegally providing state secrets abroad and deported.