This Chinese Citizen Journalist Who Was Jailed For Reporting On COVID-19 Has Finally Been Freed

This Chinese citizen journalist who was jailed for reporting on COVID-19 has finally been freed .

In February 2020, 40-year-old Zhang Zhan, an activist and lawyer, had traveled from her home in Shanghai to Wuhan, where the COVID-19 virus first broke out.

She began documenting the outbreak and the subsequent lockdown, questioning and critizing the government’s response in her social media videos and essays.

Zhang then went missing in May, but it was later revealed she had been arrested by Shanghai police.

She was eventually sentenced to four years in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, a charge the Chinese government often uses against dissidents and activists.

While in prison, she frequently went on hunger strikes, losing half of her body weight and raising concerns about her health.

She was due to be released on Monday May 13, but did not appear, causing concerns from rights groups.

On Tuesday May 21, another activist campaigning for Zhang shared a video of her, confirming she had been freed.

However, rights groups have said that Zhang is still under strict surveillance and is not fully free.

Zhang is just one of the several citizen journalists who were arrested or disappeared by the Chinese government for reporting about the coronavirus in Wuhan.

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