Citizen journalist in China who reported on COVID-19 sentenced to 4 years – By Edmund DeMarche (FOX News) / December 28 2020
China has been criticized over its early reaction to the coronavirus
Zhang Zhan, a 37-year-old citizen journalist who reported on crowded hospitals and the conditions in Wuhan earlier this year, was sentenced Monday to four years over the offense of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” reports said.
Reuters, citing her lawyer, reported that there will likely be an appeal and said his client believes she is “being persecuted for exercising her freedom of speech.”
A pro-democracy activist holds placards with the picture of Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan outside the Chinese central government’s liaison office, in Hong Kong. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
The New York Times reported that the prison sentence will likely be seen as a “stark warning to those challenging the government’s official narrative of the pandemic.”
