Beijing – A Chinese court on Monday sentenced a former attorney who reported on the early stage of the coronavirus outbreak to four years in prison on charges of “fighting and provoking trouble,” one of its lawyers said. The Pudong New Area People’s Court in Shanghai’s financial center handed down the verdict to Zhang Zhan after allegations that she was spreading false information, interviewing foreign media, disrupting public order and “maliciously” manipulating the outbreak.
Attorney Zhang Keke upheld the verdict, but said it was “uncomfortable” to provide details – usually an indication that the court has issued a partial ban on mouth. He said the court had not asked Zhang to appeal, nor had she indicated whether she would.
Zhang, 37, traveled to Wuhan in February and posted on various social media platforms about the outbreak that allegedly occurred in the central Chinese city late last year.
She was arrested in May amid harsh nationwide measures to contain the outbreak and harsh censorship to fend off criticism of the government’s initial response. Zhang reportedly went on a prolonged hunger strike while in custody, prompting authorities to forcibly feed her, and would be in poor health.
Earlier this month, a lawyer Flor Zhang, who wanted to remain anonymous, told CBS News that Zhang was held 24 hours a day with a belt around her waist and both hands tied to prevent her from pulling out a feeding tube.
Chinese human rights defenders
The attorney, who visited her at least twice, said she had headaches, dizziness and stomach and mouth pain from inserting the gavage tube for forced feeding, and that Zhang told him that “every day is torture.”
Zhang is one of many citizen journalists whose work provided one of the few glimpses to the outside world of what was going on in Wuhan in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic – and then detained by the Chinese government.
Citizen journalist Chen Qiushi went missing in February around the same time as Li Zehua and Wuhan resident Fang Bin, both of whom also reported on the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan. Li Zehua was released in April.
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China has been accused of hiding the initial outbreak and delaying the release of crucial information that allows the virus to spread and contributed to the pandemic that sickened more than 80 million people worldwide and killed nearly 1.8 million people. Beijing firmly denies the allegations, saying that action has been taken quickly to give the rest of the world time to prepare.
China’s ruling Communist Party tightly controls the media and tries to block the spread of information that has not been approved for release.
In the early days of the outbreak, authorities reprimanded several doctors in Wuhan for “spreading rumors” after notifying friends on social media. The most famous of the doctors, Li Wenliang, later succumbed to COVID-19.
Separately, Agency France Presse reports that China has tried 10 of 12 pro-democracy activists who attempted to escape from Hong Kong by speedboat to a refuge in Taiwan.
The US pushed for the immediate release of dissidents, it says “runaway tyranny”.
Ten of the so-called “Hong Kong 12” were in court in the southern city of Shenzhen. Their boat was intercepted on August 23.