HUSHED UP

Journalist Who Reported From Wuhan in Early Days of Pandemic Faces Five Years in Prison

Zhang Zhan has been held for six months and has now been formally indicted on charges of spreading false information through social media.

Zhang Zhan has been detained since May and is now facing up to five years in prison after being formally indicted on charges of spreading false information. Her alleged crime? Reporting on the coronavirus outbreak from Wuhan, where the pandemic is believed to have started. Zhan, 37, is a former lawyer turned citizen journalist. She has been held in a detention facility in Shanghai for six months and has now been formally indicted on charges of spreading false information through social media, according to The Guardian. The NGO Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) said Zhang’s reports from the start of the year included “the detentions of other independent reporters and harassment of families of victims seeking accountability from the epicenter” of the pandemic.