UN and rights groups condemn reported jailing of Wuhan Covid citizen journalist

"Zhang, 42, is thought to have stood trial in Shanghai on Friday on a charge of picking quarrels and provoking trouble, a charge often used in China to target critics of the government. Western diplomats were reportedly turned away from observing the trial. Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a media freedom NGO, said on Saturday that Zhang had been sentenced to four years in prison."

"The sentencing came 16 months after she was released following a four-year sentence on the same charge. Zhang provoked the ire of the authorities after she travelled to Wuhan in February 2020 to report on the initial response to the Covid-19 outbreak. She was one of a number of independent journalists to be detained for broadcasting reports about the severe lockdown at ground zero of the pandemic."

"Jeremy Laurence, a spokesperson for the UN human rights office, said reports of Zhang's rearrest and sentencing were deeply disturbing. He said: This is the second time Zhang has been convicted and subjected to a custodial sentence for this offence. We call for her immediate and unconditional release. Aleksandra Bielakowska, an advocacy manager for RSF, said Zhang's sentence was utterly appalling, adding that the citizen journalist should be celebrated globally as an information hero', not trapped in brutal prison conditions."

Zhang Zhan, a 42-year-old Chinese citizen journalist, was tried in Shanghai and sentenced to four years in prison on a charge of picking quarrels and provoking trouble. Western diplomats were reportedly turned away from observing the trial. The sentence follows her May release after a prior four-year term on the same charge and comes 16 months later. Zhang travelled to Wuhan in February 2020 to report on the initial response to the Covid-19 outbreak and was among independent journalists detained for reporting lockdown conditions. The UN called the rearrest and sentencing deeply disturbing and demanded her immediate unconditional release. RSF condemned the sentence and said Zhang should be celebrated as an information hero. She reportedly lived under close surveillance and was detained again in August 2024 with an indictment citing social media posts alleged to have damaged the country's image; authorities have not specified the posts.

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