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Chinese journalist jailed over COVID-19 reports 'close to death'
Zhang Zhan, 38, a former lawyer, was detained in May 2020 and sentenced in December to four years in prison for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble"—a charge routinely used to suppress dissent.
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Residents queue to undergo nucleic acid tests for COVID-19 in Xianyou county, Putian city, in China's eastern Fujian province on Sept. 13. (AFP/CNS)
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citizen journalist jailed for her coverage of China's initial response to COVID-19 in Wuhan is close to death after going on hunger strike, her family said, prompting renewed calls from rights groups for her immediate release.
Zhang Zhan, 38, a former lawyer, travelled to Wuhan, Hubei province, in February 2020 to report on the chaos at the pandemic's epicenter, questioning authorities' handling of the outbreak in her smartphone videos.
She was detained in May 2020 and sentenced in December to four years in prison for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble"—a charge routinely used to suppress dissent.
She is now severely underweight and "may not live for much longer", her brother Zhang Ju wrote last week on a Twitter account verified by people close to the matter.
Zhang has been on a hunger strike and was force-fed through nasal tubes, her legal team, which did not have information on her current condition, told AFP earlier this year.
"She may not survive the coming cold winter," Zhang Ju wrote, adding that he had urged his sister in letters to "take care of herself".
"In her heart, it seems there is only God and her beliefs, with no care for anything else."
