Zhang Zhan jailed for four year for Wuhan reports

Zhang Zhan, a former lawyer and Chinese citizen journalist who covered Wuhan’s coronavirus outbreak has been jailed for four years. She was found guilty of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, a frequent charge against activists.

The former 37-year-old lawyer was detained in May and has been on hunger strike for several months. Chinese authorities are notorious for clamping down on activists or whistleblowers seen as undermining the government’s response to the outbreak.

Ren Quanniu one of her defence lawyers said “ Zhang Zhan looked devastated when the sentence was announced.” Before her arrest, Ms. Zhang had decided to travel to Wuhan in February after reading an online post by a resident about life in the city during the outbreak. She began video documenting what she saw on the streets and hospitals in live streams and essays, despite threats by authorities and her reports were widely shared on social media.

The rights group network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders said her reports also covered the detention of other independent journalists and the harassment of families of victims who were seeking accountability.

She was formally charged in early November,  the indictment sheet alleging she sent false information through text, video, and other media through platforms like WeChat, Twitter, and YouTube. She is also accused of accepting interviews with foreign media outlets and maliciously spreading information about the virus in Wuhan.

Several other citizen journalists who reported from Wuhan – Li Zehua, Chen Qiushi, and Fang Bin went missing earlier this year. Li eventually resurfaced facing he was forcibly quarantined while Chen is reported to be staying with family but under government supervision. Fang Bin is still missing.