Sweden given extraordinary opportunity to secure release of publisher Gui Minhai as Chinese foreign minister visits Europe

Abducted, detained and disappeared by the regime

Gui Minhai, the founder of a publishing house known for its investigative books on Chinese politics, was abducted in Thailand while on holiday in 2015, only to reappear a year later in a televised forced confession in China. In February 2020, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison on bogus espionage charges. His only daughter, Angela Gui, has not received any news about him since and his whereaboutsare unknown, as Chinese authorities continue to withhold all information. "It's been nearly seven years since I was last allowed to speak to him, and each day I grow increasingly worried about his health," she told RSF. "If the Chinese government wants its claims about adhering to domestic and international law to be taken seriously, it needs to let my father come home." "We expect the Swedish Government to take this opportunity to draw attention to the unlawful treatment of the publisher and Swedish citizen Gui Minhai," also said Erik Larsson, spokesperson RSF Sweden.

UN acknowledges his detention as arbitrary

In its opinion adopted in December 2025, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) resoundingly endorsed the arguments set forth by RSF and Angela Gui, recognising that Gui Minhai's detention meets the definition of "arbitrary deprivation of liberty." In October 2025, a coalition of 90 press freedom and human rights NGOs, led by RSF, called for the release of the Swedish publisher on the 10th anniversary of his kidnapping. The same month, a large majority of the European Parliament adopted a resolution urging China to release Gui Minhai. It was the second EU resolution on his case.

China is the world's largest jailer of journalists, with 121 currently detained, and ranks 178th out of 180 countries and territories in the 2026 RSF World Press Freedom Index.