- Civilian journalist Zhang Zhan, 37, was sentenced Monday to four years in prison for her coverage of the early days of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China.
- According to the South China Morning Post, she was found guilty of “picking up strife and causing trouble”, a “broadly defined” charge often used by police to quell discord.
- The UN Human Rights Office said Zhang’s sentencing was “deeply worrying”.
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A Chinese court has sentenced a civilian journalist to four years in prison on Monday for reporting on Wuhan during the early days of the coronavirus outbreak.
According to the Associated Press, Zhang Zhan, 37, was convicted of “picking and causing problems” by the Pudong New Area People’s Court in Shanghai.
The South China Morning Post explained that the charge was “broadly defined” and “often used by the police to quell discord”. Zhan only gets a year’s delay from the maximum sentence for the charge.
The AP reports that Zhan traveled to Wuhan in February to report on how the outbreak is affecting the city.
—UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) 28 December 2020
During her time in Wuhan, Zhan posted short video clips on YouTube, including interviews with Wuhan residents and hospital footage, a crematorium and the Wuhan Institute of Virology, according to Reuters.
In mid-May, she was arrested and accused of spreading false information, interviewing foreign media, disrupting public order and manipulating the outbreak ‘maliciously’, the AP reported.
The United Nations Office for Human Rights said in a tweet on Monday that it was “deeply concerned” about Zhang’s sentence.
“We have raised her case with the authorities throughout 2020 as an example of the excessive fight against freedom of expression associated with COVID-19 and continue to demand her release,” the tweet said.
“I do not understand it. All she did was say a few true words and she was given four years for that, ‘Zhang’s mother, Shao Wenxia, told Reuters after her sentencing on Monday.
Zhang’s lawyer, Ren Quanniu, told Reuters they would probably appeal the decision.
“Ms Zhang believes she is being prosecuted for exercising her freedom of speech,” Quanniu said before the trial.
One of Zhang’s other lawyers, Zhang Keke, said before sentencing that his client was ‘physically fragile’ due to a ‘prolonged hunger strike’, according to NBC News.
“When I met her days ago, her hands were tied at the waist and a nasal tube was inserted into her nose,” he said.
Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, tweeted On Monday, China tried to avoid Western media coverage by planning the trial during the Christmas holiday season.
“Beijing’s choice in the sleepy period between Christmas and New Year indicates that it is even embarrassed to sentence civilian journalist Zhang Zhan to four years in prison for disregarding the uncensored version of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan,” Roth tweeted .
According to Reuters, foreign journalists were also banned from the trial due to the epidemic.
China is accused of concealing the true extent of the outbreak in its early days, leaving the virus out of control and becoming a pandemic that continues to spread worldwide a year later.
Other Chinese journalists who went missing when they reported the outbreak include Fang Bin, who according to NBC News has not been seen since February. Chen Qiushi disappeared the same month and is now under surveillance and will not speak in public, according to the South China Morning Post. Another journalist, Li Zehua, went missing again after two months to say he had been forcibly quarantined, NBC News reported.