Zhang Zhan once put everything on the line to show the world the reality of Wuhan at the height of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Now, after completing a four-year prison term for her reporting, the Chinese citizen journalist has again been handed another four-year sentence. On Friday, the Shanghai Pudong New Area People’s Court convicted her again for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, a catch-all term used to target government critics.
Speaking to the Guardian, Antoine Bernard, director of advocacy and assistance at Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a press freedom group, described Zhang’s trial as “not only prosecution, it’s persecution.”
So who exactly is Zhang Zhan? What did she do to face such punishment? And why does her case matter today? Here’s a closer look.
Zhang Zhan, 42, is a former lawyer from Shaanxi province who transitioned into independent journalism to document the realities of the Covid-19 outbreak. She is now one of China’s most outspoken citizen journalists.
According to a biography published by her supporters last year, Zhang converted to Christianity in 2015, and it was around this time that she began speaking out on human rights issues. Her activism soon drew the attention of authorities.
In 2019, she was arrested in Shanghai after staging a protest in support of Hong Kong. Zhang wrote articles, posted comments, and even held placards backing the pro-democracy movement.
For this, she was detained, and according to the human rights...
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