Chinese COVID whistleblower sentenced to 4 more years in jail, group says
Unlimited journalists documented the first stages of Covid -19 epidemic from the central base of Pandemin, and a Chinese journalist was sentenced to four years in prison for four years.
42 -year -old Zhang Zhan, said in a statement on Saturday, Wuhan’s central city of the first -hand Coronavirus in the first -hand of the first -hand accounts after publishing the first -hand accounts, “fighting and creating problems” was punished on charges.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry could not be reached on Sunday to comment on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Reuters could not determine whether the citizen-gathering had a legal representative.
RSF Asia-Pacific Defending Manager Aleksandra Bielakowska said in a statement, “Globally a ‘hero of information’ should be celebrated, ‘hero of the information’ should be celebrated,” he said.
He continued: “The ordeal and persecution should be over. The international diplomatic community is more urgent to put pressure on Beijing to release Beijing immediately.”
Initially, Zhang was arrested at the beginning after publishing accounts that lasted for months from crowded hospitals and empty streets, which drew a more terrible early picture of the disease. At that time, his lawyer, Ren Quanniu, said Zhang believed that he was “persecuted for using freedom of expression.”
According to the court documents seen by Reuters, his lawyers continued a hunger strike a month after this arrest.
Zhang was released in May 2024 and was detained again three months later, was finally officially arrested and placed in Shanghai’s Pudong Detention Center.
RSF said Friday’s penalty was followed by Zhang’s reports on China’s human rights violations. Former lawyer Ren said that the new charges are based on Zhang’s interpretation on the overseas websites and should not be considered guilty.
Chinese authorities never explained to the public which Zhang blames the activities.
“This Zhang Zhan has nothing but an open action of persecution for journalism.
RSF said China has the largest prison for journalists, and RSF is behind bars with at least 124 media employees. Ulus ranked 178th from 180 countries and regions in the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index.
A week before Zhang’s latest sentence, China’s best deputies passed a bill to accelerate public health emergency reactions by allowing people to report their emergencies, skipping the government’s usual hierarchical structure.
(Clare Jim and Jessie Pang in Hong Kong, Branda Goh in Shanghai;
