Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan was sentenced to four years in prison for his reporting on the New coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan early last year. Fourteen countries, including the United States, Britain, Germany, and Canada, issued a statement criticizing China’s crackdown on press freedom and urging China to immediately release Zhang and others detained for reporting the truth about the outbreak.
She was arrested in May and sentenced to four years in prison in December for “provoking and provoking trouble,” making her the first journalist to be tried for investigating the outbreak.
On the 20th, Global Affairs Canada issued a statement signed by 14 media freedom coalition countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany, expressing concern over Zhang Zhan’s unfair arrest and conviction. At least 47 journalists are currently detained in China, more than in any other country in the world,” the statement said. We urge the Chinese authorities to immediately release Zhang Zhan and all those detained in connection with his reporting. And we urge the Chinese authorities to allow journalists to practice their profession without fear of arrest, harassment or reprisal, and to end widespread censorship and control of the media, as well as freedom of expression more broadly.”
Zhang Zhan’s arrest has sparked concern among Chinese pro-democracy organizations and Christian groups in Canada, calling on Ottawa to step up its efforts to pressure China. Earlier this year, a Christian organization launched a campaign for Zhang Zhan, “Fast and Pray with Sister Zhang Zhan on her Bitter Journey,” encouraging parishioners to fast one meal a week and pray for Zhang Zhan during the fast. Pastor Hong Yujian of Vancouver’s Faithful Friends Church said many church members are saddened by Zhang Zhan’s case because the church Zhang Zhan belongs to in China does not dare to speak out publicly, so overseas support is even more important: “There is no action in Chinese house churches right now! And now popular figures on the Chinese Internet are arrested and blocked for expressing dissenting views, and human rights lawyers are arrested and forced to confess on radio and television, making things even harsher under Xi Jinping‘s rule.”
He was a lawyer in the past, but his license was revoked for his zealous advocacy of human rights, and now he has been sentenced for exposing the truth about the Wuhan Epidemic,” said Luo Le, general director of the Democratic China Front Canada. China, like a murderer addicted to murder, has no regard for the international community’s calls for Zhang Zhan’s release, which will have little effect if countries stop at statements without action.
“The international community has not done nearly enough, and if they want to really get China to stop this persecution, it will take more than a statement to solve the problem. I hope the government will really have something substantial to do, and take action to sanction officials who are carrying out human rights persecution in China in a way that will make them feel immediate pain.”
In addition to Zhang Zhan, three other citizen journalists, Chen Qiushi, Fang Bin, and Li Zehwa, who also conducted in-depth interviews on the Wuhan epidemic early last year, were all arrested by the authorities. According to sources, Li and Chen were released, but are under surveillance. Fang Bin’s whereabouts have been unknown since his arrest, and he may be held in Wuchang prison.
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