Reporters Without Borders ( RSF ) has confirmed that a Chinese blogger who was imprisoned for four years for reporting on the first Covid outbreak in Wuhan has been released from jail.
Somebody expressed their support for Ms. Zhang’s statement that she had been released on time, according to the media watchdog’s video.
She was scheduled to be released last week, but friends and supporters expressed concern that they could n’t reach her.
Ms. Zhang, a former attorney, traveled to Wuhan to record the administration’s answer to the pandemic in a number of popular online videos.
According to human rights organizations and media auditors, Ms. Zhang was unfairly tried for a crime.
RSF says her liberty is extremely limited.
In the small video posted digitally the 40- yr- ancient is wearing pyjamas, standing in a hallway. She claims in a very sweet voice that she was permitted to visit her friend’s home on May 13.
She regards others for their problem for her well-being.
At the start of the Covid crisis, she traveled from her Shanghai house to Wuhan in February 2020 and watched videos that criticised hospital congestion, victim harassment, and alleged cover-ups regarding the real death toll.
Her streams and essays were popular on social media, and she continued to produce them despite being threatened by government.
In May 2020, Ms. Zhang was detained for the offense of “picking up disputes and provoking trouble,” a fee that is frequently brought against protesters in China.
She refused to eat during the first few months of her custody, and her attorney claimed she was being forced to eat through a pipe after that point. She continued to be on a limited hunger strike until July 2023, when it was reported that her weight had shrunk from 81 kg to 81 lb.
She was also suffering from severe hunger, digestive disorder, and low white blood cell matter, RSF said.
Her supporters say that, although she has then been released from prison, she remains under close investigation by the government.
Despite being heavily censored, the Chinese internet was overflowing with posts describing state cover-ups and problems in the medical system when the pandemic first started to spread in early 2020.
However, the state’s censorship apparatus prevented the extraordinary virtual outcry.
Positive reports about the Communist Party’s Covid-19 answer were published in state media. In February 2023, the group’s top officials declared “victory” over the disease and described the administration’s response to Covid- 19 as” a magic”.