Chinese journalist who documented Wuhan coronavirus outbreak jailed for 4 years

[orangecrush]

Source: CNN


Hong Kong(CNN)An independent Chinese journalist who reported from Wuhan at the height of the initial coronavirus outbreak has been jailed for four years by a Shanghai court, her lawyer said Monday.

Zhang Zhan, 37, was found guilty of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble," according to one of her defense lawyers Zhang Keke, who attended her hearing. The offense is commonly used by the Chinese government to target dissidents and human rights activists.

A former lawyer, Zhang traveled some 400 miles from Shanghai to Wuhan in early February to report on the pandemic and subsequent attempts to contain it, just as the authorities began reining in state-run and private Chinese media.

See more
For more than three months, she documented snippets of life under lockdown in Wuhan and the harsh reality faced by its residents, from overflowing hospitals to empty shops. She posted her observations, photos and videos on Wechat, Twitter and YouTube -- the latter two of which are blocked in China.

Her postings came to an abrupt stop in mid-May, and she was later revealed to have been detained by police and brought back to Shanghai. According to Amnesty International, at one point during her detention Zhang went on hunger strike, during which time she was shackled and force fed, treatment the group said amounted to torture.

Read more: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/12/28/asia/china-journalist-zhang-zhan-intl-hnk/index.html

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Apparently the GOP doesn't have a monopoly on assholes.

Rebekah Jones was going to get the same treatment, but a free press stood up for her.

[Cozmo]

1. OMG, HELP, HELP, HELP!

[Violet_Crumble]

2. No surprise. The Chinese authorities tried to silence a doctor who warned people about the outbreak

They also seriously downplayed the numbers of infections in Wuhan once things got out of their control.

Dr Li Wenliang, who was hailed a hero for raising the alarm about the coronavirus in the early days of the outbreak, has died of the infection.

His death was confirmed by the Wuhan hospital where he worked and was being treated, following conflicting reports about his condition on state media.

Dr Li, 34, tried to send a message to fellow medics about the outbreak at the end of December. Three days later police paid him a visit and told him to stop. He returned to work and caught the virus from a patient. He had been in hospital for at least three weeks.

*snip*

Four days later he was summoned to the Public Security Bureau where he was told to sign a letter. In the letter he was accused of "making false comments" that had "severely disturbed the social order".

"We solemnly warn you: If you keep being stubborn, with such impertinence, and continue this illegal activity, you will be brought to justice - is that understood?" Underneath in Dr Li's handwriting is written: "Yes, I do."

He was one of eight people who police said were being investigated for "spreading rumours".

At the end of January, Dr Li published a copy of the letter on Weibo and explained what had happened. In the meantime, local authorities had apologised to him but that apology came too late.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51364382

[My Pet Orangutan]

5. Doctor Li was was not hero, and did not try to warn the public.

A screenshot from a private chat room had him saying SARS as in (SARS I) had returned to Wuhan. Not much was know about the new virus at that time, but SARS was well known - it killed 10% of those infected.

The screenshot was circulated on Chinese social media, without Dr. Li's permission. It was for this reason he was summoned by the police.

[sfstaxprep]

3. The World Is A Shitty Place

Truth and Reality are dead.

[DanieRains]

4. Since We Practically Surrendered To China Years Ago It's All Good

I am not a China fan....

And it's Communist China, not China.

[58Sunliner]

7. It's actually fascist.

[marble falls]

6. I'd be guilty of "skylarking about with no particular intent". I hope I'd get "the hammock" and ...

... a cold bottle of Tsingtao.

[orangecrush]

8. ....