China: five years after breaking key stories on COVID-19, journalist Zhang Zhan is dying in detention
rsf.org
Exactly five years ago, Zhang Zhan travelled to the city of Wuhan to cover the very beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for the immediate release of this “information hero” who alerted the world to the pandemic and who is at risk of death due to her prolonged hunger strike protesting her mistreatment.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/29448107

Archived

In the beginning of February 2020, Chinese journalist Zhang Zhan heard rumours that an unidentified disease was killing citizens in the city of Wuhan. Despite the risk of contagion, she travelled 850 km to cover the situation on the ground, working in the epicentre of what turned out to be one of the deadliest pandemics in modern history. For this, she was sentenced to four years in prison as the Chinese regime tried to cover up news about the outbreak and their responsibility for the spread of the disease.

Five years later — after completing her first, unjust prison sentence — Zhang Zhan is in detention once again, arrested just a few weeks after sharing information about the harassment of human rights activists on social media. She has now been behind bars since August 2024 and recently started a hunger strike in protest of her mistreatment by the regime. According to RSF information, Zhang Zhan — who was already very weak prior herpast six months of detention — is being force-fed by prison authorities.

…

Throughout her imprisonment, RSF campaigned for her release and warned about the mistreatment she was subjected to in prison. During her early months of detention, Zhang Zhan — laureate of the 2021 RSF Press Freedom Award — nearly died after going on a total hunger strike to protest her mistreatment. Prison officials forcibly fed her through a nasal tube and sometimes left her handcuffed for days.

China, the world’s biggest prison for journalists and press freedom defenders with at least 124 media workers currently behind bars, is ranked 172nd out of 180 countries in the RSF 2024 World Press Freedom Index.

  • shoulderoforion@fedia.io
    2·
    1 year ago

    The Chinese YouTubers without doubt saved my life, before COVID was even talked about as a think in the US, I was watching people line up outside hospitals and dropping dead on the streets of Wuhan from this mystery virus, day after day it just kept getting worse and worse, it was at that point I started buying (still available) gas masks and N95 construction masks, deli shelving, canned food and batteries, that I used to go to ground for the next two and a half years until vaccines were widely disseminated. I have no doubt that if I had waited until the spring of 2020 to start sourcing all the stuff I got in January I wouldn’t have been able to find it. These YouTubers risked their lives because the CCP wanted to keep COVID a secret, and would have without them.