Who is Zhang Zhan, the Chinese journalist who reported on COVID and is now missing?

China was hit by the COVID-19 in early 2020.

At the time, information detailing official cover-ups and shortcomings in the healthcare system was widely circulated on social media, despite severe censorship from the Xi Jingping-led government.

One such “rebellious soul documenting the truth” is Zhang Zhan, a citizen journalist who served four years in prison for reporting on the early days of the pandemic in Wuhan.

She was expected to be released on Monday, however, her whereabouts are unknown.

This has raised concern from activists.

Here’s all we know about her.

About Zhang Zhan

Born in 1981, Zhang Zhan is a Chinese lawyer-turned-citizen journalist, according to Indian Express.

She transitioned into independent journalism to document the realities of the outbreak.

According to The Associated Press, Zhang was among a handful of citizen journalists who travelled to the central Chinese city of Wuhan after the government put it under total lockdown in February 2020, in the early days of the pandemic.

She walked around the city to document public life as fears grew about the then-mysterious coronavirus.  

Despite threats from the authorities, she continued livestreaming and publishing articles revealing the reality of the situation.

In one of her live-streamed videos, she was told to “stop filming or (he would) get mad” by an official, but she continued filming.

“Maybe I have a rebellious soul… I’m just documenting the truth. Why can’t I show the truth? I won’t stop what I’m doing, because this country can’t go backwards,” she said in an interview with an independent filmmaker.

It was believed that this was her final interview prior to her detention.

Important details about the gravity of the situation and the government’s response were revealed through her recordings and livestreams.

Her reporting, meanwhile, also angered the Chinese authorities, who saw it as a challenge to their narrative.

She had posted more than 100 videos on her YouTube channel, WeChat, and Twitter, as per BBC.

Zhang won a 2021 Press Freedom Award for Courage from Reporters Without Borders (RWB) for “her reporting from the heart of the pandemic’s initial epicentre,” which at the time “was one of the main sources of independent information about the health situation in Wuhan.”

Her detention

A day after she was reported missing on 14 May 2020, the authorities announced that she was detained by Shanghai police.

She was charged in November of that year of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” a vaguely defined charge in China often used in political cases, as per AP.

Zhang was given a four-year prison sentence the following month in December of that same year.

Human rights organisations and media watchdogs said that Zhang was unfairly charged and demanded her release due to her failing health, reported BBC.

During her detention, Zhang staged a hunger strike to protest her unjust imprisonment and was hospitalized at one point in 2021.

According to the report, at the time, her attorney claimed that she was being force-fed via a tube.

Her health was deteriorating, according to reports from her lawyers and human rights organisations. Her ailments included low white blood cell count, gastrointestinal problems, and severe malnutrition.

“Journalist Zhang Zhan, who courageously risked her life by informing the public on the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, is at risk of dying if she does not receive extensive medical treatment,” the organisation said in a statement in September last year.

Zhang’s family has faced police pressure during her stay in prison, and her parents have declined interview requests from media. Her family at times could only speak to their daughter by phone at the prison.

“Citizen journalists were the only source of uncensored, first-hand information about the Covid-19 outbreak in China. Because they work independently of state-controlled media, citizen journalists face constant harassment for exposing information the government would rather keep quiet,” BBC quoted Amnesty International as saying in a statement.

Unknown status of her release

Zhang has finished serving her sentence at Shanghai’s Women’s Prison and was due to be released on Monday.

Ren Quanniu, a former lawyer who previously represented Zhang, according to AP, said he could not reach her father and expressed concern that Zhang would be released only to be put under another form of control by police.

There were reports in recent weeks that her family and friends were under intense pressure from the authorities not to contact foreign media or overseas supporters about the case.

Shen Yanqiu, who had planned to go with Zhang’s family to receive her at the prison, declined to speak to AP, saying she had been “invited to drink tea,” a euphemism for a police interrogation.

Calls to Zhang’s brother and to the Shanghai Prison Administration office went unanswered.

The Chinese ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin also declined to comment on the case when asked Monday. He said, “I’m not aware of the situation.”

Zhang’s family hasn’t had much communication with activists in recent weeks, according to Aleksandra Bielakowska, an advocacy officer for RWB in Taiwan, and the group hasn’t heard anything about Zhang since Monday.

“We don’t know if they have been threatened, if they are under surveillance or if they’ve been taken away,” she told The Guardian, adding, “The fact that there is silence is a message itself.”

It’s possible that Zhang was placed under restricted freedom, with limitations on her whereabouts and means of communication.

“Everyone is paying attention and trying to find out what’s going on, but there’s no news,” her lawyer said, as per the report.

“In China, journalists detained for their work often remain under detention or surveillance even upon completion of their prison terms,” Bielakowska told BBC.

“I honestly think we will have no updates soon. They will probably try to detain her in a secret location, or keep her out of the eyesight for some time.”

Maya Wang, the associate director in the Asia division at Human Rights Watch, was quoted by The Guardian, as saying, “At the moment we have not had confirmation about Zhang Zhan’s release, which is especially concerning given her very poor health in prison.”

“We fear that upon release, Zhang will remain under tight police surveillance and restrictions on her movement, as has been the case for too many activists. It is important that the world does not forget brave activists like Zhang, and demand that she be freed without restrictions,” Wang added.

“Most released human rights advocates are kept quiet through informal means of suppression. Some try to leave the country and are successful in continuing to report on human rights violations in China but they are exceptions,” said Prof Jerome Cohen, an expert in Chinese law, told BBC.

COVID-19 in China

The coronavirus remains a sensitive topic in China.

Earlier this month, a Chinese scientist who was the first to publish a sequence of the COVID-19 virus, staged a protest after authorities barred him from his lab after years of demotions and setbacks.

An Associated Press investigation also found that the government froze domestic and international efforts to trace the virus from the first weeks of the outbreak.

The case of whistleblower Dr Li Wenliang, who attempted to alert his colleagues about a “Sars-like virus,” was one of the most well-known cases.

In February 2020, Dr Li passed away following a COVID-19 infection, as per BBC.

Later on, it was revealed that he was being investigated for “making false comments” that were “disturbing social order.”

Other citizen journalists have also spent time in jail for documenting the early days of the pandemic, including Fang Bin, who published videos of overcrowded hospitals and bodies during the outbreak.

Fang was sentenced to three years in prison and released last April, as per AP.

Chen Qiushi, another citizen journalist, disappeared in February 2020 while filming in Wuhan.

Chen in September 2021 resurfaced on a friend’s live video feed on YouTube, saying he had suffered from depression but did not provide details about his disappearance.

Positive tales regarding the ruling Communist Party’s COVID-19 response were widely disseminated through state media.

Top party figures announced “victory” over the virus in February 2023 and hailed the government’s handling of the pandemic as a “miracle.”

With inputs from agencies