China detains journalist for reporting Wuhan's COVID-19 outbreak
- par Thibaud Popelin
- dans Monde
- — Nov 20, 2020
Zhang Zhan, a 37-year-old former lawyer, has been held in detention since she was arrested in May. She has been accused of "provoking trouble", a charge often used to counter activists in China.
Zhang is among the several journalists who have been arrested this year after travelling to Wuhan to report on the virus outbreak and response, reported The Guardian.
At least three disappeared in February.
It later emerged the second, Chen Qiushi, had been placed under government supervision, while the whereabouts of the third journalist, Fang Bin, is still unknown. She said that many small businesses were failing and unemployment appeared to be rising quicker than local governments had let on.
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According to Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), an NGO working towards human rights in China, Zhang "reported numerous stories including the detentions of other independent reporters and harassment of families of victims seeking accountability from the epicentre via her WeChat, Twitter and YouTube accounts".
But on 14 May she went missing from Wuhan, says CHRD. On June 19, 2020, Pudong New District Procuratorate approved the formal arrest of Zhang.
It was only on 9 September that her lawyer was granted a meeting with her.
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. On 18 September, her lawyer received a phone call that she had been indicted. She was formally charged last Friday.Indictment papers released on Monday accused her of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble".
"She also accepted interviews from overseas media Free Radio Asia and Epoch Times and maliciously speculated on Wuhan's Covid-19 [Chinese coronavirus] epidemic", the document stated.
If proven guilty, she could face a jail term for four to five years.
This is not the first time Zhang Zhan had a brush with the authorities.
The CHRD further mentioned that she was also previously detained on similar accusations by Chinese authorities in 2018 and in the following year for voicing support for Hong Kong activists. She was detained for more than two months and was reportedly forced to undergo psychiatric assessments while under custody.
