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China Defies UN, Refuses Release of Jailed Bookseller Gui Minhai

12/14/2025

Summary

Story summary

China rejected a request from the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to release Gui Minhai, a jailed China-Swedish bookseller, citing judicial sovereignty.
Gui Minhai was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2020 on espionage charges, and experts deemed him arbitrarily detained.
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention urged immediate release and compensation.
Gui Minhai disappeared in 2015, and Sweden says he remains a citizen.

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Story summary

China rejected a request from the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to release Gui Minhai, a jailed China-Swedish bookseller, citing judicial sovereignty.
Gui Minhai was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2020 on espionage charges, and experts deemed him arbitrarily detained.
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention urged immediate release and compensation.
Gui Minhai disappeared in 2015, and Sweden says he remains a citizen.