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China Sentences Citizen Journalist Zhang Zhan to Another Four Years

Global watchdogs condemn an opaque trial using a vague charge widely criticized for suppressing independent reporting.

Image
Workers in protective suits are seen at the Leishenshan Hospital, a makeshift hospital for treating patients with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Wuhan, Hubei province, China April 11, 2020. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo
Medical workers in protective suits attend to COVID-19 patients at the intensive care unit (ICU) of a designated hospital during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, February 6, 2020. China Daily via REUTERS/File Photo ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. CHINA OUT/File Photo
People wearing protective suits are seen in Biandanshan cemetery in Wuhan, Hubei province, the epicenter of China's coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, April 1, 2020. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo

Overview

  • Zhang Zhan, 42, was convicted in Shanghai on Sept. 19 of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” and received a four-year term, the same offense cited in her 2020 case.
  • She completed a prior four-year sentence in May 2024, was detained again in August 2024, and was held at Shanghai’s Pudong Detention Center ahead of the latest proceedings.
  • Diplomats and observers who sought to attend the hearing were turned away, and authorities have not detailed the specific conduct behind the new conviction, according to multiple reports.
  • The UN human rights office, the EU, Reporters Without Borders, Amnesty International and the Committee to Protect Journalists urged her immediate release and called for a halt to use of the broadly worded charge.
  • Rights groups highlight prior hunger strikes, reported force-feeding and restricted access to family and counsel, and note China detains more than 120 journalists and ranks 178th in RSF’s 2025 press freedom index.