A citizen journalist detained in China for her coverage of the coronavirus in Wuhan could die in prison, her brother says.
Zhang Zhan’s declining health was raised by the U.S. State Department when it reiterated its call this week for China to ensure her “immediate and unconditional release.”
At a press briefing Monday, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said, “The U.S. is deeply concerned about the deteriorating health” of Zhang who, according to relatives, “is near death.”
The U.S. — along with several diplomatic missions — repeatedly has expressed serious concerns about the arbitrary nature of Zhang’s detention and mistreatment, Price said.
Zhang was detained in May 2020 over her reporting on the coronavirus outbreak in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province. In December, she was sentenced to four years in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”
Declining health
A former Shanghai-based lawyer, Zhang, 38, was one of several citizens who used social media platforms such as YouTube to cover the initial coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan.
These first-hand accounts from the city’s hospitals and funeral homes conflicted with the version of events coming from Chinese officials who said the outbreak was under control.
Some legal analysts believe the harsh sentencing of Zhang was designed to have a chilling effect on other rights activists in China.
Since her arrest, Zhang has been on an intermittent hunger strike to protest what she called her unlawful detention.
“She is constantly put in solitary confinement and not allowed to move around or exercise. Her health has suffered irreversibly,” Zhang Ju, the journalist’s older brother, told VOA Mandarin.
“The doctor had warned me in August that she could die if she continues her hunger strike,” the brother said. Prison authorities have restrained Zhang and force-fed her with a tube, he said.
At 177 centimeters (5 feet, 8 inches) tall, Zhang’s weight has dropped by nearly half in prison, dropping to under 40 kilograms, and she had to be hospitalized, the journalist’s brother said.
After a video call with her daughter, Zhang’s mother said the journalist was “completely out of shape” and unable to walk or lift her head without the help of a walker or other people.
The family’s lawyer is applying for medical parole, but the chance of approval is slim as the authorities previously declined their verbal requests, Zhang Ju said.
A Chinese lawyer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of personal safety, said that Zhang’s poor health could qualify for parole.
However, authorities may use Zhang’s hunger strike as justification to deny her application and argue that her conditions were not caused by illness, the lawyer said.
VOA twice called the Shanghai Women’s Prison where Zhang is held but the operator said that the press staff were unavailable and later that they were not on duty.
‘Political pressure’
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has said that Western governments should pressure China to release Zhang.
“Pressure must be built on the regime and not only [with] words, but there has to be some economic pressure,” Cedric Alviani, director of RSF’s east Asia Bureau in Taipei told VOA. “There has to be some political pressure. There’s going to be the Olympic Games. It’s a good opportunity for democracies to voice their concern regarding the situation of human rights, and especially freedom of the press in China.”
Alviani added that Zhang should be celebrated, not jailed. RSF this week announced Zhang as one of the nominees for its 2021 Courage award.
“The Chinese people, of course, are very grateful to Zhang Zhan for what she did, but the Chinese regime, President Xi Jinping and the people who together with him are designing these authoritarian and repressive information policies should be blamed for anything that would happen to Zhang Zhan,” Alviani said. “As a journalist, she was only performing her duty to cover the COVID-19 outbreak. She should actually be considered as a hero.”
During her trial, the court said that Zhang’s coverage was “maliciously fabricated content and false information.” Discussion of the details of her case is restricted inside China.
But netizens have showed their support globally, according to Wang Jianhong, a U.K.-based rights activist, who launched an online campaign to support the journalist.
“Zhang Zhan is still remembered by many who admire her for her courage in speaking up against injustice,” Wang told VOA Mandarin.
This article originated in VOA’s Mandarin service.
