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US raises ‘deep concerns’ over disappearance of Chinese citizen journalist who reported on Covid-19 outbreak
- Zhang Zhan, arrested in 2020 after reporting on coronavirus in Wuhan, has not been heard from since her expected prison release date, advocates say
- US State Department calls for end to ‘restrictive measures’ – including surveillance, censorship and intimidation – against Zhang and others
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Hayley Wongin Beijing
The United States has raised “deep concerns” over the disappearance of Zhang Zhan, a Chinese citizen journalist who was expected to be released from prison on Monday.
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Zhang, a former lawyer, was arrested in May 2020, about a year after she began reporting on Covid-19 from Wuhan, the epicentre of the initial coronavirus outbreak in China, where she live-streamed scenes of hospitals and the local pandemic response.
She was charged with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” – a catch-all charge often used by authorities to stifle dissent – and was sentenced to four years in prison.
Days after she was set to be released, advocacy groups said they still had not heard from Zhang or her family.
The US Department of State released a statement on Thursday, saying it was “deeply concerned over reports that [People’s Republic of China] citizen journalist Ms Zhang Zhan has disappeared following her expected release from Shanghai Women’s Prison on May 13”.
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It reiterated calls to “respect the human rights of Ms Zhang, including by immediately ending the restrictive measures that she and all journalists in the PRC face, which include surveillance, censorship, harassment, and intimidation”.
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Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan sentenced to four years in jail for Wuhan coronavirus reports
Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan sentenced to four years in jail for Wuhan coronavirus reports
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