Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, who was imprisoned for documenting the early days of COVID-19 in Wuhan, is nearing release after a four-year sentence, the Independent reported. Zhan, a former lawyer turned independent journalist, traveled to Wuhan in February 2020. There, she documented the Chinese government’s response to the emerging pandemic.
After 4 years in prison for her independent reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic, journalist Zhang Zhan is due for release on 13 May
Her reports, shared on platforms like YouTube, WeChat, and X (formerly Twitter), highlighted government efforts to control information and suppress criticism of their crisis handling.
“After 4 years in prison for her independent reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic, journalist Zhang Zhan is due for release on 13 May,” Reporters Without Borders (RSF) shared on X.
Concerns have been raised about China’s handling of information during the initial COVID-19 outbreak. Some believe this may have slowed the international response to the emerging pandemic.
Zhang Zhan was detained in May 2020 and later sentenced to four years in prison on charges of ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble.’ She has been held at the Shanghai Women’s Prison since then. In a video posted in February 2020, Ms. Zhang said Wuhan was “paralysed because everything is undercover.”
She continued: “That’s what this country is facing now … They imprison us in the name of pandemic prevention and restrict our freedom. We must not talk to strangers, it’s dangerous. So without the truth, everything is meaningless. If we cannot get to the truth, if we cannot break the monopoly of the truth, the world means nothing to us.”