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Aktivister kräver att Zhang Zhan släpps fri. (Kin Cheung / AP)

Aktivister i Wuhan oroas för fängslad journalist

Åtminstone sju fristående journalister greps och dömdes till fängelsestraff för att de rapporterat om vad som pågick i den kinesiska staden Wuhan i början av covid-pandemin, rapporterar BBC.

Journalisten Fang Bin uppges nyligen ha släppts fri, men aktivister i Wuhan oroas för dem som fortfarande sitter fängslade. En av dem är Zhang Zhan som inledde en hungerstrejk när hon greps.

Aktivistgruppen Fria Zhang Zhan säger till BBC att man knappt vet någonting om hur hon mår i dag. I december förra året ska hon ha skickat ett brev till sin mamma, men sedan dess har livstecknen upphört.

bakgrund
 
Zhang Zhan
Wikipedia (en)
Zhang Zhan (simplified Chinese: 张展; traditional Chinese: 張展; pinyin: Zhāng Zhǎn; born 2 September 1983) is a Chinese citizen journalist and former lawyer who travelled to Wuhan in February 2020, from where she reported on the impact of the lockdown measures imposed in the city in response to the COVID-19 outbreak there, and questioned the handling of the crisis by authorities. She was detained in May 2020, and was later tortured and sentenced in December 2020 to four years imprisonment on the charges of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" (寻衅滋事). She is the first citizen journalist to be sentenced for reporting on the pandemic in China, although at least ten journalists and commentators were known to have been arrested for their coronavirus reporting as of February 2021, with seven remaining missing or detained as of that date. Chen Qiushi reappeared in September 2021.Zhang was hospitalized from 31 July until 11 August 2021, due to malnutrition after an extended intermittent hunger strike. In late October, her mother and brother considered Zhang to be close to death as she continued her hunger strike, leading to calls by the United States government, Reporters without Borders, and the United Nations human rights office for her immediate unconditional release.
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