RELEASE ZHANG ZHAN: The Coalition For Women In Journalism calls on China to end imprisonment of journalist Zhang Zhan
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November 19, 2021 - Citizen journalist Zhang Zhan has been imprisoned since May 2020 after her illuminating coverage of Wuhan's initial handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. As health worsens in prison, bringing her to the brink of death, the CFWIJ reiterates its demand for her release. Join our petition here to urge President Xi Jinping to drop all charges against her and ensure her immediate release from prison.
Zhang, a former lawyer, has been on a prolonged hunger strike to protest her detention and is being force-fed through a nasal tube. Family sources say Zhang's health has worsened to the extent that she is now in mortal danger.
After a mere three-hour trial on December 8, 2020, the Shanghai Pudong New Area Court sentenced Zhang to four years in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”.
Zhang’s family has stressed that the journalist has gone through drastic and extreme weight loss. She “may not survive the coming cold winter,” they said on Twitter. The journalist has also been mistreated in prison and her family was denied visiting rights. Earlier in August, she was hospitalized for 11 days as her health worsened.
In September 2021, the CFWIJ joined Reporters Without Borders (RSF), along with 43 other non-governmental human rights organizations, and urged Chinese President Xi Jinping to drop the bogus charges against Zhang and release her immediately. Zhang already suffered from stomach ulcers and reflux esophagitis, according to her family. Her time in prison has taken a significant toll on her body.
As Zhang's health worsens, the CFWIJ reiterates its call for her immediate release. The arrest of the journalist was condemnable to begin with. But to continue to keep her in prison even as her life is at risk due to mistreatment by the state is abominable.
China ranked 177 out of the 180 countries listed in the World Press Freedom Index 2021. The country is the world’s largest captor of journalists, with at least 122 journalists imprisoned - many of them in life-threatening conditions.
Like Zhang, at least 10 other press freedom defenders languishing in China’s prisons are at risk of death. These include investigative reporter and RSF World Press Freedom award-winner Huang Qi, Swedish publisher Gui Minhai and Uyghur journalist and Václav Havel Prize and Sakharov Prize recipient Ilham Tohti.
In February 2021, Kunchok Jinpa, a leading source of information about Tibet for foreign media before his arrest in 2013, succumbed to the ill-treatment and torture he was subjected to during his time in prison.
Prior to that, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and RSF Press Freedom Prize winner Liu Xiaobo and dissident blogger Yang Tongyan both died of cancer in 2017 as their symptoms went untreated in prison.
Join our call to urge the Chinese authorities to release Zhang immediately. She is in urgent need of proper medical attention and treatment. Sign our petition to secure her release and help save her life.
Signatories:
Human Rights Watch
ARTICLE 19 org
PEN International
IFEX
Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
The Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD)
The Overseas Press Club of America
The International Women’s Media Foundation
Sri Lanka Young Journalists’ Association
CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
Free Press Unlimited
Kiran Nazish, Founding Director at CFWIJ, United States
Fengsuo Zhou, President of Humanitarian China
Yaxue Cao, China Change
Zubayra Shamseden, Chinese Outreach Coordinator at Uyghur Human Rights Project
Damla Tarhan, Operations Manager at CFWIJ, Turkey
Die Morina van Uijtregt, Research Coordinator at CFWIJ, Kosovo
Jaza Aqil, Senior Editorial Coordinator at CFWIJ, Pakistan
Ceren İskit, Research Coordinator at CFWIJ, Turkey
Ayesha Khalid, Researcher at CFWIJ, Pakistan
Louisa Greve, Human Rights Advocate, United States
Mary Lynk, Journalist, Canada
Rachel Wong, Independent Journalist
Taranath Dahal, Journalism, Nepal
Jane Wang, Free Zhang Zhan campaigner, UK
Meghan Davidson Ladly, Journalist, Canada
Aimun Faisal, Researcher at CFWIJ
Idro Seferi, DW correspondent, Serbia
Alice Taylor, Journalist EURACTIV.com and Exit.al, Associate at CFWIJ
Entenela Ndrevataj, journalist at Citizens Channel, Albania
Ross Holder, PEN International
Paula Tran, Journalist, Canada
Vincent W.J. van Gerven Oei, Journalist, Albania
Indunil Usgoda Arachchi, Journalist, Sri Lanka
Srishti Jaswal, Independent Journalist, India
Áine Kelly-Costello, journalist, Norway
Tim Smith, photojournalist, Canada
Zeynep Sentek, journalist, Turkey
Terena Cardwell, Project Manager, United States of America
Xhemajl Rexha, Chairman of the Association of Journalists of Kosovo
Marcela Turati, journalist, Mexico
Dilek İçten, Journalist, Turkey
Martin O'Hanlon, President, CWA Canada, The Media Union
Boyoung Lim, Pulitzer Center, South Korea
Dicle Müftüoğlu, Dicle Firat Journalist Association (DFG), Diyarbakır-Turkey
Serdar Altan, Dicle Firat Journalist Association (DFG), Diyarbakır-Turkey
Olivia Pirie-Griffiths, Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom, Australia
Samad Uthman, Multimedia Investigative Journalist, Nigeria.
Ariuntuya.A, journalist, Mongolia
Munkhchimeg Davaasharav, Journalist, Mongolia
Maria Ordzhonikidze, Justice for Journalists Foundation
Matthew Caruana Galizia, Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation
Cédric Alviani, Reporters Without Borders East Asia Bureau Head
Aleksandra Bielakowska, Senior Researcher, Reporters Without Borders East Asia Bureau
Fabienne Allaire, Teacher, France
Jenni Wyn Hyatt, UK
Stuart Russell, Co-chair, Monitoring Committee on Attacks on Lawyers, International Association of People's Lawyers (IAPL)
Laura Maria Ele Prinetti, Journalist, Italy
John Kohn III, Event Rigger and Technician, United States of America
Kai Vogelsang, Scholar, Germany
Alex Kaye, Director, United Kingdom
Guo Kunpeng, Private business owner, China
Gan Yu Lin, KLSACH Youth, Malaysia
Gail Debono, Psychologist, Malta
Matilda Duri, Freelance journalist, Albania
Walid Bashir, Egypt
Batzorig Chimeddorj, Student, Mongolia
Joanna Chiu, Author, Journalist, Canada
Beena Sarwar, Journalist, Pakistan/USA
Amy Zhong, Student, USA
Lori Amy, Professor, USA
Louisa Bertman, Illustrator, USA
