Covid: Chinese blogger risks 5 years for Wuhan reportage

Zhang Zhan, a 37-year-old Chinese blogger with a past as a lawyer, risks up to five years in prison for spreading "false news" on the Covid-19 epidemic in Wuhan. The woman, according to reports from the BBC, has been in prison since last May on charges, often used against activists in China, of "fomenting quarrels and causing trouble".

According to the Guardian, Zhang allegedly provided "false information through text, video and other media via the Internet using WeChat, Twitter and YouTube" and was targeted by Beijing for "accepting interviews from foreign media such as Radio Free Asia and Epoch Times "and for having" made malicious speculations about the Covid-19 epidemic in Wuhan ".

    Zhang is not the first journalist to have had problems writing about the virus that flared up in Wuhan and then spread around the world. At least three reporters disappeared in February: Li Zehua reappeared in April saying he had been "quarantined"; then Chen Qiushi who "had been placed under the supervision of the government" also showed up, while there is no news of Fang Bin yet.