Journalist who covered corona in China released or not after 4 years in jail?
The Chinese journalist who reported on the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020 in Wuhan should normally have been released on Monday, 13 May, after four years in prison. So far, however, there is no trace of her.
Chinese journalist Zhang Zhan travelled in early 2020 to Wuhan, the Chinese city where the COVID-19 virus was first found in late 2019. She posted images on X and YouTube, banned media in China, and made blog posts about developments in Wuhan.
On charges of "inciting unrest" in May 2020, Zhang Zhan was arrested and detained. A few months later, a Shanghai court found her guilty and sentenced her to four years in prison. During her imprisonment, she went on hunger strike several times.
The Paris-based organisation Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontière, RSF) already expressed its concern about the journalist's fate on X. According to a former lawyer of the journalist, she has either been released or transferred to another place where she will receive a "soft prison sentence". It is also possible that Chinese authorities have banned her from contact with foreign media.
(Tagtik with LpR with agencies, Guardian, NRC/Illustration picture: Pixabay)
