"'Wuhan Corona Reality Exposed' Chinese Reporter Released but Under Surveillance"

Where They Are Staying Is Unconfirmed

Photo by The Wall Street Journal

Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan (41), who revealed the reality of Wuhan, China, at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, was released after four years but is still under surveillance, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 21st (local time).

Zhang Zhan was one of the few independent Chinese journalists present in Wuhan when the city was locked down. She posted over 120 videos showing the situation in Wuhan, where COVID-19 spread massively in 2020, as well as the Chinese government's response, on X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, and WeChat.

At the time, Zhang exposed through her videos that hospital corridors were packed with beds where patients lay, saying, "There is nothing to say except that everything is covered up and the city is paralyzed. They lock us up and restrict our freedom under the pretext of epidemic prevention."

Zhang was arrested in May 2020 and sentenced to four years in prison in December of the same year on charges of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble." During her imprisonment, she regularly went on hunger strikes to protest her conviction and treatment, and her weight dropped from 75 kg to 41 kg during the first winter of her incarceration.

Zhang was released on the 13th, but her whereabouts remain unknown. The U.S. State Department, the United Kingdom, and the European Union have expressed concerns about her safety and health. According to the Wall Street Journal, Zhang is currently in contact with friends via WeChat (the Chinese version of KakaoTalk), but her location is not confirmed.

A video circulated among human rights groups on the 21st showed police accompanying Zhang to her brother's house in Shanghai around 5 a.m. on the day of her release. She quietly said, "Thank you for your help and concern. I don't know what else to say."

Zhang's family and lawyers revealed through reports that she became severely weakened due to hunger strikes about a year into her imprisonment, to the point where she could neither walk nor hold up her head.