Australian Cheng Lei freed from China detention

Journalist Cheng Lei has returned home to Australia after more than three years of detention in China.

"She was met at the airport by the Foreign Minister Penny Wong," Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, announcing her release.

Cheng Lei was working as a business reporter for China's state-run English language TV station CGTN when she was arrested on 13 August 2020.

She was later accused of "illegally supplying state secrets overseas".

Her charges were never made public, and she was never sentenced.

Mr Albanese has said she has been reunited with her two children in Melbourne.

"Her return brings an end to a very difficult few years for her family. The 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," Mr Albanese said.

He added that her matter "was concluded through the legal processes in China".

Ms Cheng spent the first six months of her detention in solitary confinement without charge.

In August, she spoke publicly for the first time about her imprisonment in an open letter to the people of Australia which had been dictated to a group of diplomats who were able to speak with her each month.

"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. I can't believe I used to avoid the sun when I was living back in Australia… It'll probably rain the first two weeks I'm back in Melbourne."

"I haven't seen a tree in three years," she said.