Zhang Zhan a Chinese journalist was a concerned citizen and a journalist, a former lawyer who had traveled to Wuhan in February 2020 to report on the chaos at COVID-19 epicenter, questioning the Chinese authorities’ management of the pandemic through her smartphone videos.<\/p>\n
She was detained in May 2020 and imprisoned in December to four years in jail for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” — a charge routinely used by the Chinese government to suppress dissent.<\/p>\n
The citizen journalist in jail is now close to death after going on a hunger strike and was force-fed through nasal tubes, but her legal team did not have information on her current condition and informed AFP of this earlier this year.\u00a0 Her family is now invoking renewed calls from rights groups for her immediate release.\u00a0 Zhang now cannot walk or even raise her head without help, according to Reporters without Borders (RSF).<\/p>\n
She is now severely underweight and “may not live for much longer”, her brother Zhang Ju wrote last week on a Twitter account verified by people close to the matter.<\/p>\n
“She may not survive the coming cold winter,” Zhang Ju wrote, adding that he had urged his sister in letters to “take care of herself”.<\/p>\n
“In her heart, it seems there is only God and her beliefs, with no care for anything else.”<\/p>\n
Zhang Ju’s posts sparked renewed requests for his sister’s release, with Amnesty International urging the Chinese government Thursday to “release her immediately so that she can end her hunger strike and receive the appropriate medical treatment she desperately needs”.<\/p>\n
Amnesty campaigner Gwen Lee said in a statement that Zhang’s detention was a “shameful attack on human rights”.<\/p>\n
Someone close to the citizen journalist, who declined to be named, told AFP the family had asked to meet Zhang more than three weeks ago at the Shanghai women’s prison where she is being held but had not received a response.<\/p>\n
AFP was unable to reach Zhang Ju while Zhang’s mother declined to comment.<\/p>\n
The Shanghai prison also offered no response when approached by AFP.<\/p>\n
RSF East Asia Bureau head, Cedric Alviani, said the “international community (must) apply pressure to the Chinese regime and secure Zhang Zhan’s immediate release before it is too late.”<\/p>\n
“She was only performing her duty as a reporter and should never have been detained, not to mention receive a four-year prison sentence.”<\/p>\n
China has rejoiced in its success in keeping domestic infections quashed with only small sporadic outbreaks.<\/p>\n
The government has put forward a COVID success story crediting the Communist Party to its vigilance in returning life to almost normal even as death tolls and infections continue to explode in the rest of the world.<\/p>\n
But those who dare to question the official version stated by the Chinese governemnt of COVID by asking questions about the government’s early cover-up and handling of the Wuhan<\/a> outbreak, all face the government’s fury.<\/p>\n Zhang is among a group of four citizen journalists — including Chen Qiushi, Fang Bin and Li Zehua — detained after reporting from Wuhan.\u00a0 And can anyone forget Li Wenliang<\/a>, Wuhan’s whistleblower?<\/p>\n