A leading activist in China’s #MeToo movement went on trial for subversion on Friday, according to several diplomats and a spokesperson for a campaign group calling for her release.

Journalist and feminist activist Huang Xueqin was put on trial on the charge of “inciting subversion of state power” along with labour activist Wang Jianbing at Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court, a spokesperson for the campaign group Free Huang Xueqin and Wang Jianbing said, citing people with knowledge of the case.

Diplomats from seven western countries including the US, Britain, Germany, France and the Netherlands attempted to attend the trial as observers, but they were not allowed into the building, according to five Beijing-based diplomats. “Nobody should be arrested and put on trial for exercising their fundamental rights,” a spokesperson at the British foreign office said in a statement.