Chinese COVID whistleblower sentenced to 4 more years in jail, group says

(Reuters) -A Chinese journalist jailed for four years after documenting the early phases of the COVID-19 outbreak from the pandemic's epicentre was sentenced on Friday to four more years in prison, Reporters Without Borders said.

Zhang Zhan, 42, was sentenced on a charge of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" in China, the same charge that led to her December 2020 imprisonment after she posted first-hand accounts from the central city of Wuhan on the early spread of coronavirus, the international press freedom group, known by its French initials RSF, said on Saturday.

China's Foreign Ministry could not be immediately reached on Sunday for comment. Reuters could not determine whether the citizen-journalist had legal representation.

"She should be celebrated globally as an 'information hero', not trapped in brutal prison conditions," RSF Asia-Pacific advocacy manager Aleksandra Bielakowska said in a statement.

"Her ordeal and persecution must end. It is more urgent than ever for the international diplomatic community to pressure Beijing for her immediate release."

Zhang was initially arrested after months of posting accounts, including videos, from crowded hospitals and empty streets that painted a more dire early picture of the disease than the official narrative. Her lawyer at the time, Ren Quanniu, said Zhang believed she was "being persecuted for exercising her freedom of speech".

She went on hunger strike the month after that arrest, according to court documents seen by Reuters, prompting police to strap her hands and force-feed her with a tube, her lawyers said at the time.

Zhang was released in May 2024 and detained again three months later, eventually being formally arrested and placed in Shanghai's Pudong Detention Center, RSF said.

Friday's sentencing followed Zhang's reporting on China's human rights abuses, RSF said. Her former lawyer Ren posted on X that the new charges were based on Zhang's comment on overseas websites and she should not be deemed guilty.

China's authorities have never publicly specified what activities Zhang was charged for.

"This is the second time Zhang Zhan has faced trial on baseless charges that amount to nothing more than a blatant act of persecution for her journalism work," said Beh Lih Yi, Asia-Pacific director for the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. "Chinese authorities must put an end to the arbitrary detention of Zhang, drop all charges, and free her immediately."

China has the world's largest prison for journalists, with at least 124 media workers behind bars, RSF said. The nation ranked 178th out of 180 countries and territories in the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index.

A week before Zhang's latest Sentencing, China's top lawmakers passed a bill to accelerate public health emergency responses by allowing people to report emergencies, bypassing the government's usual hierarchical structure.

(Reporting by Clare Jim and Jessie Pang in Hong Kong, Branda Goh in Shanghai; Editing by William Mallard)