Chinese journalist jailed for reporting on Wuhan COVID-19 outbreak to be released

The current whereabouts of a Chinese citizen journalist, Zhang Zhan, who was imprisoned for four years due to her reporting on the early days of the pandemic in Wuhan, remain unknown, causing concern among activists.

Zhang Zhan was sentenced to four years in prison on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” a vague charge frequently used in political cases. She completed her sentence at Shanghai’s Women Prison.

The Associated Press reports that Ren Quanniu, a former lawyer who previously represented Zhang, expressed his inability to contact her father and raised concerns that Zhang might be released only to face another form of police control.

According to Ren and Jane Wang, another overseas activist who initiated the Free Zhang Zhan campaign in the U.K., Monday marked the end of her four-year sentence.

Zhang was one of the citizen journalists who traveled to Wuhan, China, after the city was placed under total lockdown in February 2020 during the early stages of the pandemic. She roamed the city, documenting public life as concerns grew about the then-unknown coronavirus.