#FreeZhangZhan: RSF is appalled by the regime's new criminal detention of prominent Chinese journalist
Chinese journalist Zhang Zhan, who spent four years in prison for her coverage of the Covid 19 outbreak, has been criminally detained for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is appalled by the regime's relentless persecution of independent journalists, and demands her immediate release.
On 20 September – a month after journalist and former lawyer Zhang Zhan was placed in detention and deprived of contact with the outside world – independent Chinese news website Weiquanwang revealed that Zhang is being held in the Pudong Detention Center in Shanghai for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” a criminal offence for which she could face up to five years in prison.
On 19 September, Zhang's lawyer Fan Biaowen was dragged away by policemen while meeting with Zhang's mother in a metro station in the city of Shanghai. He was released after eight hours of detention in the local police station. The police also briefly held Zhang's mother in the metro station.
“We are dismayed and appalled to learn of the new criminal charges opened against Zhang Zhan. She has already paid a heavy price for her journalism, including four years in prison, which she nearly did not survive. The Chinese authorities are clearly hell bent on continuing to punish her after all this time, but she never should have spent a single day behind bars, and she should certainly not be there now. We repeat our call louder than ever: it’s time to free Zhang Zhan, once and for all!
Zhang was apprehended by the police on 28 August while travelling to her hometown in the Shaanxi province in northwest China. In the weeks leading up to this incident, Zhang had shared news about the harassment of activists in China on social media. She had also travelled to the northwestern province of Gansu to persuade the mother of a recently arrested activist to sign a power of attorney.
Zhang was first arrested on 14 May 2020, while covering the early stages of the Covid 19 outbreak in the city of Wuhan. She had posted more than 100 videos on social media before her arrest, and seven months later she was sentenced to four years in prison by a Shanghai court on the charge of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” In the early months of her detention, Zhang nearly died after going on a total hunger strike.
China, the world’s biggest prison for journalists and press freedom defenders with at least 121 media workers currently behind bars, is ranked 172nd out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2024 World Press Freedom Index.
