China sentences citizen journalist who reported on COVID-19 in Wuhan to 4 years in prison


Zhang Zhan, a citizen journalist who went to Wuhan, China, in February to report about the emerging coronavirus outbreak, was sentenced on Monday by a Chinese court to four years in prison after being charged with "picking fights and provoking trouble," The Associated Press reports.
Zhang, 37, is a former lawyer, and while in Wuhan she posted online about what she was learning about the coronavirus in the region. She was arrested in May in Shanghai, accused of spreading false information and disrupting public orders. Zhang reportedly went on a hunger strike during her detention, and is now in poor health, AP says. Her lawyer, Zhang Keke, told AP it was "inconvenient" to share details on the case, a typical response when a court has issued a partial gag order.
The Chinese government has been accused of covering up the initial outbreak in the country, and officials have cracked down on criticism, censoring reporters and health-care workers; early in the pandemic, several doctors who shared information on the virus with colleagues and friends were reprimanded for "rumor mongering." One of those doctors, Li Wenliang, later died of COVID-19.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Trump's federal return-to-office mandate descends into chaos
In the Spotlight Was the administration unprepared, or was it a tactic to drive employees to quit?
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
Music review: Japanese Breakfast, Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco, and Steve Reich
Feature "For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women)," "I Said I Love You First," "Collected Works"
By The Week US Published
-
Smithsonian under fire: Trump orders an ideological purge
Review The president has issued an executive order to control Smithsonian exhibits and restore removed statues linked to slavery
By The Week US Published
-
RFK Jr. visits Texas as 2nd child dies from measles
Speed Read An outbreak of the vaccine-preventable disease continues to grow following a decade of no recorded US measles deaths
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Shingles vaccine cuts dementia risk, study finds
Speed Read Getting vaccinated appears to significantly reduce the chances of developing Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Measles outbreak spreads, as does RFK Jr.'s influence
Speed Read The outbreak centered in Texas has grown to at least three states and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is promoting unproven treatments
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
RFK Jr. offers alternative remedies as measles spreads
Speed Read Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. makes unsupported claims about containing the spread as vaccine skepticism grows
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Texas outbreak brings 1st US measles death since 2015
Speed read The outbreak is concentrated in a 'close-knit, undervaccinated' Mennonite community in rural Gaines County
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Mystery illness spreading in Congo rapidly kills dozens
Speed Read The World Health Organization said 53 people have died in an outbreak that originated in a village where three children ate a bat carcass
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Ozempic can curb alcohol cravings, study finds
Speed read Weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy may also be helpful in limiting alcohol consumption
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
New form of H5N1 bird flu found in US dairy cows
Speed Read This new form of bird flu is different from the version that spread through herds in the last year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published