WPF is deeply concerned about the well-being of Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan over her untraceable whereabouts on the day of her expected release from Shanghai Women's Prison after four years.

More than 70 journalists, rights advocates, press freedom groups and related organizations have joined the Coalition For Women In Journalism’s call to demand that the Chinese authorities immediately release journalist Zhang Zhan from prison.

Journalist Zhan Zhang is currently being held at the Shanghai City Women’s Prison. She was already hospitalized once while in custody in July this year, however, her health appears to be failing still.

The health of journalist Zhan Zhang is rapidly deteriorating in prison. She was arrested last year in May for reporting on state mismanagement and negligence in their response to the COVID crisis. She was sentenced to four years in prison in December 2020 on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. The journalist has pre-existing medical conditions that her family has already raised the alarm on.

Zhang Zhan, a Chinese citizen journalist was sentenced to four years in prison in Shanghai on Monday due to her coverage on the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan. She was found guilty of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. Such accusations are regularly used to intimidate social activists. The Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ) is utterly dismayed with the court’s decision. It is yet another, worrying manifestation of the suffocating environment for press freedom in China. No journalist should be subjected to vicious, legal persecution, especially when informing the public about a deadly epidemic spreading across the country.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism is severely worried about the health of citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, who is the only woman journalist who remains under bars for reporting on Covid-19 pandemic.

Zhang Zhan, a citizen journalist based in Shanghai, has been arrested after initially being detained for her coronavirus reporting. She has been held by the police in the municipality’s Pudong district on “public disturbance charges”.