A Chinese whistleblower jailed for documenting the early phases of the Covid-19 outbreak from Wuhan was reportedly sentenced to four more years in prison.
Zhang Zhan, 42, was sentenced on Friday on a charge of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" in China, according to press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The same charge led to her December 2020 imprisonment after she posted first-hand accounts from the central city of Wuhan on the early spread of the coronavirus.
Zhang, a lawyer-turned-citizen journalist, travelled to Wuhan in February 2020 to document the Chinese government’s efforts to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus at the start of what was to become a global pandemic. She posted firsthand accounts on social media from crowded hospitals and empty streets that projected a more serious situation than the government acknowledged.
She also reported how the authorities were trying to censor criticism of its response to the viral outbreak on social media. Her lawyer at the time, Ren Quanniu, said Zhang believed she was "being persecuted for exercising her freedom of speech".
She went on hunger strike the month after that arrest, prompting police to strap her hands and force-feed her with a tube, her lawyers said at the time.
Zhang was released in May 2024 and detained again three months later, eventually being formally arrested and placed in Shanghai's Pudong Detention Center, RSF said.
Aleksandra Bielakowska, the RSF Asia-Pacific advocacy...
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