Chinese journalist jailed over COVID-19 reporting released

ISTANBUL

Chinese journalist Zhang Zhan, who was sentenced in 2020 to four years in jail for reporting on the coronavirus pandemic, has been released from prison, according to a statement from supporters.

Zhang, 40, was taken to her elder brother's home in Shanghai by police on May 13, the statement said Tuesday on X on an account after the journalist.

“I really don’t know what to say,” Zhang said in a video released with the statement.

【Press release：#ZhangZhan has left prison】
Beijing time 22:16, Tuesday 21 May 2024

Today, we finally received confirmation that Zhang Zhan @consultorzhang has been released from prison. However, she only has limited freedom.

In a short video recording provided by an… pic.twitter.com/sZk10FJQXw

— Jane Wang 王剑虹 #FreeZhangZhan (@changchengwai) May 21, 2024

Kyodo News said the lawyer-turned-journalist was “convicted of disrupting public order, with prosecutors claiming she had disseminated a large number of lies and spoken with foreign media about infections with malicious intent.”

The first cases of COVID-19 were reported in the central city of Wuhan in China in December 2019.

It later spread across the world with nations imposing travel restrictions. The outbreak resulted in more than seven million deaths and disrupted domestic the global economies.