Australian journalist Cheng Lei has revealed she was jailed in China for almost three years after breaking an “innocuous” media embargo by only a “few minutes”.

Speaking about her experience, Lei told Sky News Australia of the moment she was arrested at work at the Chinese state-owned TV network CGTN.

“I get to the big meeting room, and there are 20 people there,” she said.

“And then someone stands up, shows his badge and says you’re wanted.

“Immediately they take my belongings away, and I’m escorted to my apartment where they’d already arranged with the security at my compound to go through the garage, up to my apartment, where they looked for evidence all day.”

The Melbourne mother of two was arrested in August 2020 and held in a Chinese jail for two years and 11 months, only allowed to stand in sunlight for 10 hours a year.

She was held in isolation for about six months and allowed 30-minute consulate visits while in prison.

Lei was accused of national security-related offences but the circumstances surrounding her detainment had not been made public until now.

“Essentially you broke an embargo,” Sky News reporter Annalise Neilsen put to Lei.

“Yes,” Lei responded.

A media embargo is an agreement between a journalist and other parties, such as governments or companies, to hold off publishing information until an agreed time.

The former anchor for China’s CGTN said she broke the embargo by just a few minutes.

Lei said in China that was considered a “big sin”.

“You have hurt the motherland, that the state’s authority has been eroded because of you,” she explained.

“And what seems innocuous to us here, I’m sure it’s not limited to embargoes, but many other things are not in China, especially I’m given to understand the gambit of state security is widening.”

The 48-year-old broke down as she spoke about seeing her children and mother for the first time after arriving back home last week.

“We just all screamed and my mum wept and I just held onto her,” she said.

Cheng Lei says her heart broke when she was reunited with her mother and saw she had lost weight and aged. Photo: Sky News Australia

Lei went to a Vietnamese restaurant with her family and had a celebratory champagne before heading to the Queen Victoria Market during her first few days of freedom.

Lei said it would take time to adjust back to normal life as she was still afraid of something happening, such as her children being taken away.

“I keep expecting people to drop out of the sky and arrest me,” she said.

Last week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Lei’s return was not part of a deal struck with Beijing and her release followed the completion of China’s judicial process.

The federal government continues to advocate for the release of Australian writer and activist Yang Hengjun, whose health is deteriorating.

He has been detained since January 2019 and continues to await a verdict in his case with his judgment deferred.