Jailed Australian TV anchor issues rare message

“I miss the sun. In my cell, sunlight shines through the window, but I can only stand in it for 10 hours a year,” she wrote in a post released on Thursday by her partner, Nick Coyle, on the X account called freechangelei. said in the message. ,

Coyle told CNN that the message was directed to diplomatic officials and was shared with them.

“I can’t believe I avoided the sun when I was living in Australia,” Cheng’s message said.

Cheng described it as a “love letter” to Australia, and said “I haven’t seen a tree in 3 years.”

“I can’t believe I avoided the sun when I was living in Australia,” Cheng’s message said.

Cheng, a former business anchor for China’s state broadcaster CGTN and a mother of two, is facing charges of illegally supplying state secrets abroad, a charge that carries a sentence of five years to life in prison.

In a letter published by Coyle, she was on her way to work on the morning of August 13, 2020, when she was “taken away by China’s Ministry of State Security.” Australian newspaper in May.

Chinese officials have not given details of the charges against Cheng.

The Chinese court has delayed the verdict several times, keeping Cheng in custody and his loved ones lacking clarity about his fate.

In his letter released on Thursday, Cheng spoke warmly of his life in Australia, writing, “I miss the Australian people.”

She writes, “I remember the first time I went camping with my family.” “I miss the sweet encounters of wildlife in Australia, the sea salt whizzing by in my ear.”

She says, “I re-live every bushwalk, river, lake, beach with swimming and picnics and psychedelic sunsets, star-studded skies and the quiet and secret symphony of the bushes.”

He finally wrote, “Most of all I miss my children.”

Coyle told CNN that he only hears from Cheng after his consular visits, which are once a month.