China jails COVID whistleblower journalist Zhang Zhan for 4 more years
Chinese citizen-journalist Zhang Zhan, who documented the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, has been given another four-year prison sentence, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
- Chinese journalist and COVID whistleblower Zhang Zhan has been sentenced to an additional four years in prison.
- She was convicted of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” the same offense for which she was jailed in 2020 for her reporting from Wuhan.
- The new sentence was issued shortly after she completed her initial four-year term in May 2024 and was subsequently rearrested.
- The latest conviction is reportedly based on her continued reporting on human rights violations and remarks made on overseas websites.
Zhang, 42, was convicted on Friday of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, the same offence for which she was jailed in December 2020 after posting accounts and videos from Wuhan that contradicted the official narrative. RSF said the new punishment follows her reporting on human rights violations in China.
“This is not justice but persecution,” RSF’s Asia-Pacific advocacy manager Aleksandra Bielakowska said, urging the international community to press Beijing for her release. The group called her an “information hero” who should be recognised, not punished.
Zhang was first arrested in 2020 after she shared footage of overrun hospitals and deserted streets, painting a grimmer picture of the coronavirus outbreak than official statements. She later staged a hunger strike, during which she was reportedly shackled and force-fed.
She completed her initial four-year sentence in May 2024 but was rearrested three months later and held at Pudong Detention Centre in Shanghai, RSF said. The latest conviction was reportedly based on remarks she made on overseas websites, according to her former lawyer Ren Quanniu, who argued that she should not be held criminally liable.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the ruling, calling the case “baseless” and demanding her immediate release.
China is currently the world’s biggest jailer of journalists, with at least 124 behind bars, according to RSF. The country ranks 178th out of 180 in its 2025 World Press Freedom Index.
The sentencing came just a week after Chinese lawmakers passed a new bill aimed at improving public health emergency reporting, allowing individuals to bypass the government’s chain of command.
Reuters
