China: Journalist Who Investigated Covid-19 Re-Detained
Zhang Zhan is a Chinese citizen journalist who was jailed for reporting on the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic in Wuhan.
A former lawyer, she travelled to Wuhan in February 2020 to provide on-the-ground information about what was happening there. She posted on social media about how government officials detained independent reporters and harassed families of Covid-19 patients.
She went missing in Wuhan in May 2020. It later emerged that she had been taken by the Chinese authorities and detained in Shanghai, where she was convicted of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” after a sham trial. While in prison, Zhang carried out a partial hunger strike to protest her guilty verdict. This led to serious impacts on her health, resulting in multiple hospitalizations. According to a lawyer who spoke to her family, in July 2023 she was again admitted to the prison hospital, with worrying long-term health impacts and weighing just 37 kilograms – half of her weight prior to her deprivation of liberty.
On 13 May 2024, after completing a four-year prison sentence, Zhang Zhan was released. However, since her release, she has been subjected to strict surveillance and continuous harassment by the authorities. Zhang Zhan expressed concern that her online speech was being monitored by authorities.
In late August, it was reported that she travelled from Shanghai to the northwestern province of Gansu to show solidarity with other human rights defenders. Shortly thereafter, during a visit to her hometown in Shaanxi, she suddenly became unreachable. Later on, it was reported that she had been taken into custody by police from Shanghai, well over 1000 km away from her last known location. Since then, Zhang Zhan has been criminally detained by the Chinese authorities, according to civil society on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, and is currently held in the Pudong Detention Centre in Shanghai. She has been detained for over a month.
Zhang Zhan is imprisoned solely for exercising her human right to freedom of expression. She was featured in Amnesty International’s 2021 Write for Rights campaign.
Since the outbreak of Covid-19 in Wuhan, China's suppression of freedom of expression has become increasingly rampant. Amnesty International has documented numerous cases of independent journalists and activists who were sentenced for reporting on the truth of the pandemic, with Zhang Zhan being a notable example. These repressive measures intensified after the "White Paper Movement," leading to further restrictions on civil society. Human rights defenders, including woman protesters, independent journalists, human rights lawyers, and academics, are at risk of severe penalties under various charges related to "endangering national security."
Even after serving their full sentences, human rights defenders face limited freedom, with ongoing harassment and rights deprivation affecting them and their families. We have recorded several cases of human rights defenders who, despite being released, still do not enjoy complete freedom. For instance, human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong was under house arrest after his release and has been unable to reunite with his family for over 11 years. Another human rights lawyer, Wang Quanzhang, continues to face forced evictions and threats against his children’s education even after his release.