Chinese Covid-19 whistleblower gets four more years in jail

A Chinese journalist jailed for four years after documenting the early phases of the Covid-19 outbreak from the pandemic’s epicentre was sentenced on Sept 19 to four more years in prison, Reporters Without Borders said.

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Zhang Zhan, 42, was sentenced on a charge of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” in China, the same charge that led to her December 2020 imprisonment after she posted firsthand accounts from the central city of Wuhan on the early spread of coronavirus, the international press freedom group, known by its French initials RSF, said on Sept 20.

China’s Foreign Ministry could not be immediately reached on Sept 21 for comment. Reuters could not determine whether the citizen-journalist had legal representation.

“She should be celebrated globally as an ‘information hero’, not trapped in brutal prison conditions,” RSF Asia-Pacific advocacy manager Aleksandra Bielakowska said in a statement.