Zhang Zhan, the citizen journalist sentenced to a heavy prison term for reporting on the Wuhan epidemic © Web
Around World Press Day, public opinion was heightened that Zhang Zhan, the first female citizen to be sentenced to prison in China for the crackdown on citizen journalists who reported on the Wuhan epidemic, received an honorary award for freedom of expression from the Université Libre de Belgique.
The Free University of Belgium awarded two female journalists this year on World Press Day, Belarusian investigative journalist and dissident Svetlana Aleksandrovna Alexievich received an honorary doctorate from the university, and Zhang Zhan, a Chinese citizen journalist sentenced to four years in prison by the Chinese Communist authorities for reporting on the real situation regarding the Wuhan epidemic, received an honorary prize for freedom of expression issued by the Free University of Belgium Zhang Zhan, a Chinese citizen journalist sentenced to four years in prison by the Chinese Communist authorities for reporting on the Wuhan epidemic, received an honorary prize for freedom of expression from the Free University of Belgium.
Speaking at the award ceremony, Ms. Wang Jianhong, a spokesperson for the Zhang Zhan Concern Group who lives in the United Kingdom, said, “Zhang Zhan’s story is one of seeking the truth and telling the truth at all costs. For dozens of years, the Chinese people have suffered from man-made disasters such as the Great Famine, the June 4 massacre, and the Xinjiang concentration camps. Even in the case of natural disasters, the authorities’ cover-up of the facts has led to unnecessary panic, needless casualties, and nowhere to tell their grief, making the suffering even more tragic. Zhang Zhan witnessed the people of Wuhan being forced to suffer in silence, unable to even mourn their deceased loved ones. People long for truth and justice, otherwise the pain will never heal.”
Additionally, in addition to Zhang Zhan, the situation of other Chinese citizens reporting the truth about Wuhan continues to be worrisome, as citizen journalist Fang Bin remains missing, the only one of the four arrested citizen journalists whose whereabouts are unknown.
Chen Qiushi, a lawyer, was taken away by CCP police on February 6, 2020, while documenting the epidemic in Wuhan. On March 29, 2020, Internet sources revealed that Chen had returned to live with his parents in Qingdao, but his movement was restricted and he was prohibited from speaking out.
In mid-February 2020, CCTV reporter Li Zehua went to Wuhan to report independently, attempting to visit the Wuhan funeral home, hospital and P4 lab, but was arrested a week later and forcibly sent home.
In addition, the international mainstream media New York Times, Le Monde and Le Figaro have recently published dozens of virologists calling for an independent investigation into the origin of the virus by the WHO.
The French newspaper Le Figaro published an article on Tuesday focusing again on the P4 laboratory in Wuhan, condemning the French political circles when former President Chirac and former Prime Minister Raffarin ignored the unanimous opposition of the intelligence services and the academic community and insisted on building the P4 laboratory in cooperation with the Chinese side, thus opening Pandora’s box.
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