The fate of Chinese journalist Zhang Zhan remains unclear, a day after she was expected to be released from prison after serving a four-year prison sentence for covering the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chinese journalist Zhang Zhan was expected to be released from yesterday, Monday 13.05.2024, who served the four-year sentence imposed on her, because she made revealing reports, during the first period when the coronavirus had broken out in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Supporters say it is unclear whether Zhang Zhan has actually been released – although rights groups had said authorities were likely to keep a low profile about her situation.
The 40-year-old former lawyer is one of several activists who have run into trouble with Chinese authorities over their reports on COVID-19. Some have been taken into custody, while others have disappeared.
She was found guilty of “causing trouble and tension,” a charge often used by the Chinese government to target dissidents and human rights activists.
Media observers and human rights groups had said Zhang was being unfairly prosecuted by calling for her release due to her deteriorating health.
There is “tremendous concern” for Zhang Zhan’s safety following her release, said Reporters Without Borders advocacy officer Aleksandra Bielakowska.
“I honestly believe we won’t have any updates soon. They will probably try to keep her in a secret location or keep her out of sight for a period of time.”
One of Zhang’s lawyers told BBC Chinese that her “personal freedom will continue to be restricted”, adding that she will now live with her parents in Shanghai.
The disputed reports and the last interview before the arrest
In early February 2020, Zhang Zhan had traveled 650 kilometers from Shanghai to the central city China to report on the rapidly spreading virus, which had first appeared in Wuhan.
The journalist recorded excerpts from the lives of citizens in a state of strict lockdown and posted the videos on social media despite the threats of the authorities in China.
In one of her livestreamed clips she showed how she continued to shoot her camera while an official warned her to “stop shooting or [θα] get angry”.
“Maybe I have a rebellious soul… I’m just recording the truth. Why can’t I show the truth?” she said in an interview, an excerpt of which was obtained by the BBC.
“I’m not going to stop what I’m doing, because this country can’t go back.”
This was believed to be her last interview before her booking.
Zhang had posted more than 100 videos on her YouTube channel, WeChat and Twitter before she was reported missing on May 14, 2020.
The next day, authorities announced that he had been arrested by police in Shanghai.
She was charged in November of that year and sentenced the following month.
The Chinese journalist went on hunger strike in the first months of her detention, and her lawyer said at the time that she was being force-fed through a tube.
She continued her hunger strike until July 2023, when she reportedly weighed just 37kg – half of what she was before her detention.
He suffered from severe malnutrition, gastrointestinal disease and a low white blood cell count, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said.
The significance of the journalist’s case will depend on what happens after her release, said Jerome Cohen, an expert on Chinese law.
A lawyer for the journalist said her family had been approached “frequently” by police during her detention and had been instructed not to discuss the case with others.
“Citizen journalists were the only source of uncensored first-hand information about the Covid-19 outbreak in China.
“Because they work independently of the state-controlled media, citizen journalists face constant harassment for revealing information that the government would prefer to suppress,” Amnesty International said in a statement.
When the pandemic first hit in early 2020, the Chinese internet – despite heavy censorship – was flooded with messages describing a government cover-up and failing health care system.
But the state’s censorship machine redoubled its efforts to quell the unprecedented online outrage.
Several channels went silent, posts were quickly deleted, and some activists like Zhang received explicit warnings from authorities.
Chinese doctor Li Wenliang who sounded the alarm about the coronavirus
Among the most well-known internationally was the case of doctor Li Wenliang, who had tried to warn his colleagues about a possible outbreak of an illness similar to severe acute respiratory syndrome, a disease that eventually became known as COVID-19.
According to newsit, on January 3, 2020, he was questioned by the Wuhan police, who gave him a warning document for “spreading false comments on the Internet”, which he was made to promise not to repeat. Li Wenliang returned to work. He later contracted the virus from a patient and died of the disease on February 7, 2020, aged 33.
His death sparked an outpouring of support on social media while his posts were eventually deleted.
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