December 28, 2020 – Zhang Zhan, a Chinese citizen journalist was sentenced to four years in prison in Shanghai on Monday due to her coverage on the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan. She was found guilty of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. Such accusations are regularly used to intimidate social activists. The Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ) is utterly dismayed with the court’s decision. It is yet another, worrying manifestation of the suffocating environment for press freedom in China. No journalist should be subjected to vicious, legal persecution, especially when informing the public about a deadly epidemic spreading across the country.

Zhang Zhan, a citizen journalist and a former lawyer, was detained in May for reporting on the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan. She traveled to this central Chinese city in February and her live broadcast revolving around the early stage of the deadly epidemic was streamed on Twitter and YouTube. Both of these platforms are blocked in the country. She continued to document and release what she saw on the streets, despite the threats from the authorities.  She also wrote an article wherein she criticized Chinese authorities for their response towards containing the novel coronavirus and deemed the measures taken by the government as a violation of human rights. Zhang also questioned transparency related to the outbreak’s coverage and censorship of the media reporting about its spread.

Eventually, Zhang was arraigned on charges of picking quarrels and provoking trouble. This broad and vague accusation is being used quite often against social activists and political dissidents in China, including those very few who dare to speak critically about the state’s response to the pandemic. Zhang was cited for spreading “false information through text, video and other media through the Internet media such as WeChat, Twitter and YouTube”.

This offence carries a maximum sentence of five years. On Monday, December 28, Shanghai Pudong New Area People’s Court decided that Zhang Zhan would be imprisoned for four years. Since the moment she was arrested, Zhan has maintained her innocence. In June, she began to refuse food and started a hunger strike as a way to protest the unjustified charges and maltreatment from both the authorities and law enforcement officers. Since starting the protest against her imprisonment, Zhang has lost a significant amount of weight and was even force-fed, the latter one is an inhuman practice which can lead to serious mental and physical consequences.

Zhang Keke, the journalist’s lawyer informed the public that Zhang Zhan attended the trial in a wheelchair and was in a poor health. He also commented the course of the trial. “The prosecutor only read out the list of evidence, without showing most of it, including the core evidence. Zhang Zhan said citizens’ speech should not be censored. But apart from that, she basically did not speak.”. According to Ren Quanniu another lawyer from her defense team, Zhang looked devastated when the verdict was announced and her mother, who was in court, was sobbing loudly.

The Coalition For Women Journalists (CFWIJ) repeatedly called upon the authorities to put an end to this vicious example of legal harassment and release Zhang immediately. Zhang is not the only one being consistently persecuted for her coverage. China is infamous for suppressing press freedom and threatening journalists who don’t follow the official propaganda. Several journalists, including women, remain behind bars in China on the charges strictly connected to their reporting. The crackdown on the media continues and has even worsened in the aftermath of Covid-19. The authorities have tightened the grip on journalists and imposed heavy censorship to deflect criticism of the government's response to the pandemic. CFWIJ’s documentation shows at least six women journalists behind the bars in various prisons across China. We are indignant at the decision of the court and the message that it sends to all of the social activists and journalists in China. Journalists should not be imprisoned for covering issues vital for the safety and wellbeing of their communities.