China jails citizen-journalist for four years over Wuhan virus reporting

[snoop1130]

China jails citizen-journalist for four years over Wuhan virus reporting

 

Police vehicles are seen outside Shanghai Pudong New Area People's Court before the trial of citizen-journalist Zhang Zhan, who reported from Wuhan during the peak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Shanghai, China December 28, 2020. REUTERS/Brenda Goh

 

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A Chinese court handed a four-year jail term on Monday to a citizen-journalist who reported from the central city of Wuhan at the peak of last year's coronavirus outbreak, on grounds of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble," her lawyer said.

 

Zhang Zhan, 37, the first such person known to have been tried, was among a handful of people whose firsthand accounts from crowded hospitals and empty streets painted a more dire picture of the pandemic epicentre than the official narrative.

 

"I don't understand. All she did was say a few true words, and for that she got four years," said Shao Wenxia, Zhang's mother, who attended the trial with her husband.

 

Zhang's lawyer Ren Quanniu told Reuters: "We will probably appeal," adding that the trial at a court in Pudong, a district of the business hub of Shanghai, ended at 12.30 p.m.

 

"Ms Zhang believes she is being persecuted for exercising her freedom of speech," he had said before the trial.

 

Critics say that China deliberately arranged for Zhang's trial to take place during the Western holiday season so as to minimize Western attention and scrutiny.

 

"Beijing's selection of the sleepy period between Christmas and New Year's suggests even it is embarrassed to sentence citizen-journalist Zhang Zhan to four years in prison for having chronicled the uncensored version of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan," tweeted Kenneth Roth, the Geneva-based executive director of Human Rights Watch.

 

Criticism of China's early handling of the crisis has been censored, and whistle-blowers such as doctors warned. State media have credited the country's success in reining in the virus to the leadership of President Xi Jinping.

 

The virus has spread worldwide to infect more than 80 million people and kill over 1.76 million, paralysing air travel as nations threw up barriers against it that have disrupted industries and livelihoods.

 

In Shanghai, police enforced tight security outside the court where the trial opened seven months after Zhang's detention, although some supporters were undeterred.

 

A man in a wheelchair, who told Reuters he came from the central province of Henan to demonstrate support for Zhang as a fellow Christian, wrote her name on a poster before police arrived to escort him away.

 

Foreign journalists were denied entry to the court "due to the epidemic", court security officials said.

 

A former lawyer, Zhang arrived in Wuhan on Feb. 1 from her home in Shanghai.

 

Her short video clips uploaded to YouTube consist of interviews with residents, commentary and footage of a crematorium, train stations, hospitals and the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

 

Detained in mid-May, she went on a hunger strike in late June, court documents seen by Reuters say. Her lawyers told the court that police strapped her hands and force-fed her with a tube. By December, she was suffering headaches, giddiness, stomach ache, low blood pressure and a throat infection.

 

Requests to the court to release Zhang on bail before the trial and livestream the trial went ignored, her lawyer said.

 

Other citizen-journalists who had disappeared without explanation included Fang Bin, Chen Qiushi and Li Zehua.

 

While there has been no news of Fang, Li re-emerged in a YouTube video in April to say he was forcibly quarantined, while Chen, although released, is under surveillance and has not spoken publicly, a friend has said.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-12-28

 

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[Kelsall]

Communism, doing what it does best.

[ourmanflint]

China wants absolute control of any future discussion about events leading up to Wuhan outbreak, Xi wants the blame put fairly and squarely outside China

[PatOngo]

4 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

"I don't understand. All she did was say a few true words, and for that she got four years,"

What would you expect from communist despots!

 

4 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

"Ms Zhang believes she is being persecuted for exercising her freedom of speech,"

The only truth in China is Emperor for Life Xi Jinping!

[PatOngo]

28 minutes ago, ourmanflint said:

China wants absolute control of any future discussion about events leading up to Wuhan outbreak, Xi wants the blame put fairly and squarely outside China

I hope one day they are severely punished for this catastrophe they have unleashed on the world!

[lovethai123]

Ms. Zhan is  certainly a brave person. Salutes to her.

I pray to GOD that some nice country such as Canada /germany etc helps her in getting her out of jail and grants her asylum. 

[placeholder]

3 hours ago, Kelsall said:

Communism, doing what it does best.

Well, if you think China is communist and given it's extraordinary economic success, maybe Karl Marx had it right all along.

[techietraveller84]

7 hours ago, placeholder said:

Well, if you think China is communist and given it's extraordinary economic success, maybe Karl Marx had it right all along.

My educated guess is that China's system isn't quite what Marx envisioned. One must wonder if he's turning in his grave, or perhaps just celebrating his malign influence from his hot-seat in hell.

One thing he likely would approve of though is China's sudden focus on capitalist symbol Jack Ma, who apparently upset Chairman Xi a couple months ago with an errant comment and has since lost his favored status in the country.

Quote

...the halting of the IPO came only days after Ma launched a public attack on Chinese regulators and therefore, also insulting President Xi during a public address.

The November share sale was set to see Ma's wealth bulge to more than $70 billion in a record-breaking listing of the group's Ant Group financial arm in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

On the face of it, it looks like the ever-charismatic and ebullient Jack Ma has disappeared from the spotlight after the dressing down. Reportedly, he has been advised by the government to stay in the country.

In a country where getting rich risks catching the attention of the powerful, a probe into the Alibaba Group and its billionaire founder is not a surprise...

https://www.theweek.in/news/biz-tech/2020/12/24/why-xi-jinping-govt-is-after-alibaba-and-jack-ma-the-poster-boy-of-chinas-tech-dreams.html

[Tug]

Thankyou brave lady it’s people like you that alerted the world to the coming disaster and allowed people to see through the lies put out by our leadership granting time to those who listened time to prepare and keep their families safe

[PatOngo]

7 hours ago, placeholder said:

Well, if you think China is communist and given it's extraordinary economic success, maybe Karl Marx had it right all along.

Great when you can spy on the west and steal all the technology! Now tell me about freedom of speech in China!

[animalmagic]

11 hours ago, Kelsall said:

Communism, doing what it does best.

Looking at the comparison in the attached reference I'm not sure that communism is the best description of that regime.  Fascism seems more accurate.

Communism vs Fascism - Difference and Comparison | Diffen

[Geoffggi]

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

"I don't understand. All she did was say a few true words, and for that she got four years," said Shao Wenxia, Zhang's mother, who attended the trial with her husband.

This is what you did wrong in the eyes of the ruling Chinese, I hope Thailand is taking note of the kind of people they are wanting to associate with ..............Sad !!!!

[Bender Rodriguez]

well here you get 15 if you cause "trouble"

[placeholder]

6 hours ago, PatOngo said:

Great when you can spy on the west and steal all the technology! Now tell me about freedom of speech in China!

What kept the Soviet Union from doing the same? Stealing technology is one thing. Getting an economic system to function productively is quite another.

[Hayduke]

26 minutes ago, placeholder said:

What kept the Soviet Union from doing the same? Stealing technology is one thing. Getting an economic system to function productively is quite another.

 

Slave labor helps........

 

 

[placeholder]

3 minutes ago, Hayduke said:

 

Slave labor helps........

 

 

Not so much. You still have to be able to organize efficiently. And given the huge size of the chinese economy and the extraordinary variety of what it produces, slave labor really doesn't account for it.

[AlfHuy]

BREAKING

 

5 Norwegian salmonds catched by Ch... authorities and jailed for 2 months without any access to water.

 

They are accused of bringing the "virus" to Wuhan.

[PatOngo]

48 minutes ago, placeholder said:

What kept the Soviet Union from doing the same? Stealing technology is one thing. Getting an economic system to function productively is quite another.

Nihao ma comrade!

[Deli]

The only thing we can di is boykotting China as muchas possible. And I do it 24/7. Down with Xi, his commies and CCP

[placeholder]

25 minutes ago, Deli said:

The only thing we can di is boykotting China as muchas possible. And I do it 24/7. Down with Xi, his commies and CCP

You're boycotting China 24/7? You must be very tired.

[Selatan]

Such a wonderful law they have there in China - "Picking quarrels and provoking trouble". Look at the Covid-19 disaster in the United States - the people are still quarrelling away. The US should consider adopting this very useful law to deal with future pandemics.

 

 

[Selatan]

On 12/28/2020 at 7:30 PM, snoop1130 said:

"I don't understand. All she did was say a few true words, and for that she got four years," said Shao Wenxia, Zhang's mother, who attended the trial with her husband.

True words? She was against the lockdown. She bet on the wrong horse and lost.

[habanero]

On 12/28/2020 at 7:35 AM, Kelsall said:

Communism, doing what it does best.

They say 4 years, but she will probably never see the light of day again.