Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan has been released from prison after serving four years for charges related to reporting on the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan. She was sentenced to four years in prison on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” a vaguely defined charge often used in political cases. Zhang’s release came after her sentence ended, but concerns remain about her freedom of movement. Shanghai police had visited activists and her former lawyers before her release, raising questions about possible continued police control over her movements.
In a video released after her release, Zhang thanked everyone for their help and concern. However, overseas activist Jane Wang, who is in contact with one of Zhang’s former lawyers, noted that Zhang still has limited freedom. The United States Department of State has also expressed concern about Zhang’s status since her release. Although Zhang is out of prison, there are worries that she may still be under police control even in her brother’s home, where she was taken on the day she finished her sentence.
During her time in Shanghai’s Women Prison, Zhang staged hunger strikes and was hospitalized in 2021. Her family faced police pressure throughout her incarceration, and her parents refused to speak to the media. Zhang, along with other citizen journalists, had traveled to Wuhan in the early days of the pandemic to document the situation as the city went into lockdown. Other citizen journalists such as Fang Bin and Chen Qiushi also faced jail time or disappearance for their reporting on the Covid-19 outbreak.
Fang Bin, who published videos of overcrowded hospitals and bodies during the outbreak, was sentenced to three years in prison and released in April 2023. Chen Qiushi disappeared in February 2020 while filming in Wuhan but resurfaced in September 2021, citing depression without providing details about his disappearance. The sensitivity around the coronavirus remains an issue in China, as evidenced by the recent protests of the Chinese scientist who first published a sequence of the Covid-19 virus being barred from his lab after facing demotions and setbacks.
Zhang Zhan’s release highlights the challenges faced by citizen journalists reporting on sensitive topics such as the Covid-19 pandemic in China. While she is out of prison, concerns remain about the extent of her freedom and potential continued police monitoring of her activities. The cases of other citizen journalists like Fang Bin and Chen Qiushi further underscore the risks and consequences faced by those who seek to report on issues that the Chinese government deems sensitive. The ongoing scrutiny and restrictions facing journalists and scientists in China point to a broader issue of censorship and control over information related to the pandemic.
