Australian journalist Cheng Lei released from China, arrives in Melbourne

Australian journalist Cheng Lei has returned to Australia more than three years after being arrested in China.

Cheng had been working as a journalist for state-owned broadcaster CGTN when she was accused of supplying state secrets overseas.

She had rejected the allegations, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said her release was a result of legal proceedings against her in China being concluded.

Albanese said Cheng was reunited with her family in Melbourne, and he spoke to her earlier today.

“I spoke to her about her recent message, of course, that she made to the Australian people.

“She’s a very strong and resilient person, though. And when I spoke with her, she was delighted to be back in Melbourne.

“Government has been seeking this for a long period of time and her return will be warmly welcomed not just by her family and friends but by all Australians.”

The prime minister said Cheng had been met at the airport by Foreign Minister Penny Wong.

Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley welcomed the news, saying she was “delighted”, while paying credit to the government for its efforts.

“I am so happy for Cheng Lei,” Ley told the ABC.

“I still remember the letter she wrote from the cell which only got that tiny bit of sunlight every day.”

Earlier in the year, Cheng released a public statement. ABC’s 7.30 received a copy that was dictated to an Australian consular official in Beijing and given to her partner Nick Coyle.

It read: “I miss the sun. In my cell, the sunlight shines through the window, but I can stand in it for only 10 hours a year,” she wrote from an undisclosed facility in Beijing.

“This is a love letter to 25 million people and 7 million square kilometres of land, land abundant in nature, beauty and space. It is not the same in here, I haven’t seen a tree in three years.”

She finished the statement, in which she addressed the Australian public, by adding how much she missed her children while incarcerated.

The prime minister asked for the public to respect Cheng and her family’s privacy.

“Our focus remains on her interests and welfare, and we are asking for her privacy and that of her family be respected at this time as she adjusts to what has obviously been a very difficult and traumatic period for her in her life,” he said.

This story was originally published by the ABC.