Chinese Journalist and Lawyer Sentenced 4 Years in Prison for Covering COVID19 Outbreak in Wuhan

Reposted from Westfalia Times, authored by Marie Oakes, December 28, 2020

 

Zhang Zhan, a Chinese citizen journalist and a former lawyer was sentenced by a Chinese court for four years for reporting in Wuhan during the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak.

134059111_676009736397697_5245874039694801307_n

Zhang Zhan has been held by authorities since May and was sentenced on Monday, December 28, for allegedly “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” during the initial stages of the outbreak in Wuhan with her reporting.

During her reports at the beginning of the outbreak in Wuhan, Zhan criticized the government’s handling and the response to the outbreak.

During her reporting of the outbreak, she shared videos of crowded hospitals and the realities of what the outbreak looked like in Wuhan.

In one of her videos, she said “The government’s way of managing this city has just been intimidation and threats,”

Yahoo News reports that the Chinese Communist Party authorities “have a history of putting dissidents on trial in opaque courts between Christmas and New Year to minimise Western scrutiny.”