Human rights and press freedom groups this week released the account of the family of a journalist from China, arrested at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic after reporting on the Chinese dictatorship’s handling of the matter. Zhang Zhan, 38, is said to be “close to death” after months of hunger strike and urgently in need of medical treatment.
Zhang was sentenced to four years in prison in December after portraying on social networks in early 2020 the reality in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the first infections by the new coronavirus were recorded: former lawyer, she showed how Chinese government officials were arresting reporters independent and harassing families of patients with Covid-19.
“Zhang Zhan, who should never have been arrested in the first place, now appears to be in serious danger of dying in prison. The Chinese authorities must release her immediately so she can end her hunger strike and receive the proper medical treatment she desperately needs,” said Gwen Lee, China’s Amnesty International activist.
“The Chinese government’s lawsuit against Zhang Zhan, simply because she tried to find out what was going on in Wuhan amidst massive government secrecy about the pandemic, is a shameful attack on human rights.”
According to Amnesty International, Zhang disappeared in Wuhan in May 2020; later, it was learned that she had been convicted in a mock trial in Shanghai for “fighting and causing trouble.”
In June 2020, the journalist had started a hunger strike in protest against her arrest. At trial in December, she was so weak that she appeared in court in a wheelchair.
Also according to Amnesty International, Zhang was force-fed before the trial by Chinese authorities, who prevented her from removing a feeding tube. They are also said to have forced her to wear handcuffs and accessories to immobilize her hands 24 hours a day for more than three months, as punishment for the hunger strike.
Zhang was hospitalized in late July this year due to severe malnutrition, but was later taken back to prison and continues on a partial hunger strike. The family reported that she has been prevented from speaking with her lawyer and from meeting relatives since the trial. Only supervised phone calls and video calls were allowed.
Two other organizations, Reporters Without Borders and Human Rights Watch, also issued messages demanding Zhang Zhan’s release. “We call on the international community to put pressure on the Chinese regime to release Zhang Zhan before it’s too late. She only fulfilled her duty as a journalist and should never have been arrested, let alone sentenced to four years in prison,” said Cédric Alviani, director of the East Asia office of Reporters Without Borders.
“The Chinese government must be held accountable for allowing yet another peaceful criticism to become seriously ill while it was unfairly imprisoned,” said Yaqiu Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Governments must call for Zhang Zhan’s urgent release to prevent an already dire situation from turning tragic.”
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