Zhang Zhan, the Chinese citizen journalist who chronicled the early days of the Covid-19 crisis in Wuhan, was today sentenced by a Chinese court to four years in prison.
Zhan’s independent report, which included video of overcrowded hospitals and supporting whistleblowers, undermined the Chinese government for deviating from the state’s official narrative of the outbreak. She is the first known journalist to stand trial for Covid coverage.
The citizen journalist, a former Shanghai-based lawyer, went on a hunger strike to protest her arrest, before being force-fed through a feeding tube. Today’s conviction was met with protests in Hong Kong.
