The citizen journalist whose work in the Chinese city of Wuhan revealed the magnitude of the corona outbreak in the country and who was jailed for her work is on the brink of death after a hunger strike.
Human rights groups worldwide are calling for her immediate release.
Zhang Zhan (38) travelled to Wuhan in February 2020 to report on the chaos at the centre of the emerging pandemic. Instead, however, she was critical of the approach of the Chinese authorities. For that reason, she was arrested in May 2020 and sentenced in December to four years in prison for “provoking unrest”, a charge that the Chinese regime often uses to silence critical voices.
After her conviction, Zhan went on a hunger strike. She is now severely malnourished, weighs barely 40 kilograms, and according to her brother, “doesn’t have long to live”. According to the NGO Reporters without Borders, “the woman can no longer walk, or even lift her head without assistance”.
The news has prompted human rights groups worldwide to once again call for Zhan’s immediate release. Amnesty International is calling it a “blatant attack on human rights”, claiming that “its blood will be on the hands of the Chinese government”.