Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, who exposed the truth about the Wuhan epidemic, has been sentenced to four years in prison and will be released on parole on May 13. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is urging the international community to pay attention and pressure Beijing to ensure her full restoration of freedom.
RSF announced in a press release on April 12 that Zhang is a recipient of the RSF Press Freedom Award and has been imprisoned for four years since May 2020 for reporting on the COVID-19 epidemic in China. Despite nearing the end of her sentence, doubts remain as to whether the Chinese Communist Party will grant her freedom. In China, journalists imprisoned for their work are often subject to surveillance even after release and are prohibited from leaving the country.
RSF is calling on the international community to pressure Beijing to allow Zhang Zhan and other imprisoned journalists and defenders of press freedom to fully regain their liberty. RSF’s Asia-Pacific representative, Cédric Alviani, stated that Zhang Zhan risked her life to inform the public about the epidemic and should not have been arrested or sentenced. He urged the international community to exert pressure on the Chinese Communist Party to ensure the complete restoration of freedom for Zhang Zhan and other imprisoned journalists and advocates for press freedom.
In early 2020, amidst the outbreak of the CCP virus epidemic in Wuhan, Zhang Zhan, a former practicing lawyer, transformed into a citizen journalist. In February of that year, she traveled alone to Wuhan to conduct on-the-ground investigations and interviews, sharing her findings through media outlets and social media accounts. She also spoke with media such as The Epoch Times and Radio Free Asia, disclosing the true situation in Wuhan. At the end of the same year, Zhang Zhan was arrested and later sentenced to four years in prison by the Chinese authorities on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”
In an interview with The Epoch Times at the time, Zhang Zhan expressed that what scared and pained her the most was witnessing the spread of the epidemic, the fear of government suppression, and being confined to a hotel unable to do anything, stating, “That was what caused me the most pain.” She said, “I’ve called for the Communist Party to step down and end the socialist system many times, because I feel that everyone in this country lives under the curse of this system. The large-scale disasters of this society are becoming increasingly evident, and no one can escape from it. Everyone, from top to bottom, is living in fear or trapped in a mire of guilt from which they cannot extricate themselves.”
After her arrest, Zhang Zhan’s health deteriorated. In September last year, Gansu human rights activist Li Dawei stated after speaking with Zhang Zhan’s mother that Zhang Zhan had been hospitalized in the Shanghai Prison Administration Bureau due to worsening gastrointestinal illness. Radio Free Asia reported Li Dawei saying that Zhang Zhan had not completely ceased eating and was consuming at most half or one-third of what others ate as a form of protest, to prove her innocence and demonstrate that the authorities’ trial and detention of her were illegal. This is the mindset of resistance exhibited by a political prisoner.
In June 2023, Zhang Zhan received support from the leaders of the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) and was nominated as a candidate for the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize. Lawmakers expressed that despite facing waves of repression, violence, and abuse from the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese people’s desire for freedom persists. They decided to add three nominees who were detained by the Chinese government to compete for the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize, including Peng Li, the central figure in the Beijing Sìtōng Bridge incident, citizen journalist Zhang Zhan who reported on the 2019 coronavirus epidemic on social media platforms, and Li Kangmeng, the first person associated with the “Blank Paper Movement” at Nanjing University of Journalism.
Responsibility Editor: Xiao Lusheng#