A Chinese journalist who was jailed for four years for reporting on the early coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan is scheduled to be released on Monday.
Zhang Zhang, a former lawyer, traveled to Wuhan in February 2020 to document the Chinese government’s response to what started a global pandemic. She shared the report on her X (then known as her Twitter), YouTube, and WeChat. She was one of the few independent Chinese reporters on the ground as Wuhan and the rest of China went into lockdown.
In a video shot in February 2020, Zhang said: That’s what this country is facing right now… They’re putting us in jail and restricting our freedoms in the name of preventing a pandemic. Don’t talk to people you don’t know, it’s dangerous. Therefore, without truth, everything is meaningless. If we cannot reach the truth, unless we can break the monopoly of truth, the world means nothing to us. ”
Another video showed a hospital with patients in trolleys filling the hallways.
Zhang was arrested in May 2020 and later sentenced to four years in prison for “picking a fight and causing trouble,” a charge often used against activists. Since then, she has been detained in a women’s prison in Shanghai.
Zhang, who turned 40 in September, has regularly gone on hunger strikes during his time in prison to protest his conviction and treatment. According to one of her former lawyers (now fired), when he saw her in the winter of 2020, she was very thin, had a forced-feeding tube in her nose, and had two hands The baby was reportedly tied up and unable to breastfeed. Pull out the tube. “People asked me to persuade Zhang Zhan to eat something, but she refused,” her lawyer said.
Her weight reportedly dropped from 8 pounds (74.8 kg) to less than 6 pounds (40.8 kg) at one point, but her health is believed to have improved in recent months.
Ms Zhang’s former lawyer said her case was handled “particularly harshly”. “The judge said her crimes would go to Wuhan for questioning and investigation. But in reality, what the judge didn’t like was that she collected those materials and posted them on Twitter, and the so-called He was interviewed by enemy media,” the lawyer said, referring to publications such as Radio Free, which are funded by the US government. Asia.
Maya Wang, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said: “We were relieved to hear that Ms. Zhang, whose health had deteriorated so much in prison, had been released, but she should never have been imprisoned in the first place.” Ta. Her imprisonment should remind us all that the Chinese government has not yet been held accountable for its cover-up of the coronavirus outbreak or human rights violations related to its strict pandemic restrictions. ”
Wang said there were concerns that Zhang would not fully regain his freedom after his release.
Zhang’s former lawyer said there were probably two possible outcomes after his release. The first is to drop her off at her home. “The other thing is that she will be sent somewhere and spend a period of one to three months in a ‘soft prison’…Based on my experience with so-called sensitive people. , they will be banned from contact with other people for a period of time and will not be allowed to travel anywhere in the outside world. ”
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Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s China director, said: “We call on the Chinese authorities to fully release Zhang Zhan from May 13th. She and her family should not be subject to surveillance or harassment, and the Chinese authorities should be allowed to communicate with her family and reunite with her family after her traumatic ordeal in prison. We must ensure that there are no restrictions on access to treatment.”
Jane Wang, a supporter of Zhang in the UK (no relation to Maya Wang), said Zhang’s release would come shortly after the anniversary of the death of Lin Zhao, a prominent Chinese dissident who was executed during the Cultural Revolution. It pointed out. “Although Zhang Zhan is young, she still has the spirit of Lin Zhao in her,” Wang said. She is the equivalent of Lin Zhao during Mr. Xi’s era. ”
Additional research by Chi Hui Lin
