Democracy activists held placards outside the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government of Hong Kong, China, on December 28, 2020, expressing their support for the 12 Hong Kong residents and former lawyer Zhang Zhan detained in mainland China. (Photo by Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)
- Zhang Zhan was arrested in May 2020 and sentenced to four years in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” in December.
- Zhan traveled to Wuhan in February 2020 to report on the chaos in the pandemic center.
- She went on hunger strike many times to protest her conviction.
The United Nations on Friday urged China to release a citizen journalist sentenced to prison for reporting on the country’s Covid-19 response, who was reportedly dying after a hunger strike.
The UN Human Rights Office was shocked by reports that 38-year-old Zhang Zhan’s health was rapidly deteriorating and that her life was facing serious threats due to a hunger strike while in custody.
Spokesperson Marta Hurtado said in a statement: “We call on the Chinese authorities to release Zhang immediately and unconditionally based on humanitarian considerations, at least based on humanitarian considerations, and provide emergency life-saving medical treatment, respecting her wishes and dignity.” statement.
Ms. Zhang, a former lawyer, went to Wuhan in February 2020 to report on the chaos at the epidemic center and questioned the authorities’ handling of the epidemic in a video on her smartphone.
She was detained in May 2020 and was sentenced to four years in prison in December for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”-a charge often used to suppress dissent.
She went on a hunger strike several times to protest her conviction, sentence and imprisonment, and her family recently warned that she was seriously underweight and “may not live long”.
Hurtado said that since his arrest last year, the UN Human Rights Office has repeatedly raised concerns about Zhang’s case with the Chinese authorities.
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She said it had sought “clarification of the criminal proceedings taken against her because she appeared to be engaged in legal journalistic activities.”
China has successfully contained domestic Covid infections in sporadic outbreaks.
The government has put forward a statement that the Communist Party has almost returned life to normal, even as deaths and infections in other parts of the world continue to surge.
But those who threatened the official version by questioning the government’s early handling of the Wuhan epidemic will face party anger.
Zhang was one of four citizen journalists detained after reporting from Wuhan, as well as Chen Qiushi, Fang Bin and Li Zehua.
Hurtado emphasized that “the free flow of relevant information is particularly important in the early stages of crisis situations such as public health emergencies.”
“We once again call on all countries to ensure that all emergency measures taken in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, including measures on freedom of speech and media freedom, are absolutely necessary, commensurate with their legitimate goals and non-discriminatory.”
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