After four years in prison, Chinese authorities released from prison a civilian reporter who reported on the outbreak of the corona pandemic from Wuhan and was later convicted by a court.
Supporters of the former lawyer published a video of her on the X platform on Wednesday evening. In it she says, “Hi, I’m Zhang Zhan.” At 5 a.m. on May 13, police took her to her brother’s apartment in Shanghai.
The video of the citizen reporter on Platform X:
The now 40-year-old Chinese woman was arrested in May 2020 and sentenced to four years in prison in December 2020 for reporting on the virus outbreak in the locked-down central Chinese city. A court in the eastern Chinese metropolis of Shanghai found her guilty of picking fights and provoking riots. Her release date was scheduled for May 13, but there has been no trace of the Chinese woman since.
NGO: Zhang Zhan is not really free
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) expressed relief at the confirmation of Zhang Zhan’s release, but stressed that she is not actually free and remains under strict surveillance. In addition, authorities could prevent her from traveling abroad even though she has served her sentence.
Critical condition after hunger strike
Zhang was actually a lawyer. After her declaration as a citizen reporter, the authorities revoked her license. She made her experiences public, among other things, on the video platform YouTube, which is blocked in China, and the online network X (then still Twitter). According to reports, after her arrest in May 2020, she went on hunger strike, was sometimes force-fed and at one point weighed as little as 40 kilograms. Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International human rights activists have repeatedly called for their release and international pressure on the Chinese government.
The Zero Covid strategy led to a huge wave
At the end of 2019, the then unknown, devastating viral disease Covid-19 appeared in Wuhan, which was initially largely covered up. Only weeks later did a lockdown follow and China’s rigid zero-Covid strategy with tough measures to control the number of infections, which could hardly be sustained in early 2022. In December 2022, the government surprisingly abandoned the much-criticized strategy. The result was a huge Corona wave until the beginning of last year.
Source: Krone
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