In February 2020, Zhang Zhan does not hesitate for a second. She leaves Shanghai, jumps on a train, direction Wuhan. In a video, she explains the reason he drove her to Wuhan. It was this online message from a desperate resident who feared he would be left to die there in the abandoned city of Wuhan.
With her cell phone, Zhang Zhan films, films herself, she testifies. It shows the overcrowded hospitals, the patients left to fend for themselves, the chaos in the hallways. She shows this policeman threatening her if she continues to take pictures. It shows what power wants to hide from view. A city cut off from the world, under tension, a health situation difficult to control.
With her videos of a few minutes, she contradicts the well-established story of the authorities. That of a heroic and effective fight against the virus. To date, “officially”, China confirms around 126,000 cases of Covid-19 and nearly 5,700 deaths according to the World Health Organization. The country has 1,400 million inhabitants. Zhang Zhan had doubts. Moreover, to the policeman who wants to snatch his phone, she says bluntly: “I have the right to monitor what the state is doing”.
Zhang Zhan was sentenced at the end of 2020 to four years in prison for “provoking public disturbances”. A motive frequently invoked in China against political opponents. Amnesty International speaks of a “sham trial”.
Zhang Zhan, 38 years old, 1.77 meters tall, 40 kilos can no longer move, or even lift his head, without assistance, warns us in a Reporters Without Borders statement. In August, she was hospitalized for ten days. Because if Zhang Zhan can no longer testify, she continues to protest in her own way. She is on a hunger strike.
According to her lawyers, she is sometimes force-fed through a nasal tube. Her brother left a disturbing message last week on Twitter: “She is very emaciated (…) she may not live very long (..) She may not make it through the winter “.
The Chinese government is silent on Zhang Zhan’s state of health. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs simply recalls “that anyone who breaks the law must be punished”. He qualifies the calls for the release of the journalist “anti-Chinese political manipulation”.
Amnesty International’s appeal, therefore, which evokes “a shameful attack on human rights”. The appeal also from Reporters Without Borders and a coalition of 44 NGOs in September. RSF which describes China “as the world’s largest prison for journalists with at least 122 inmates”. Three other independent journalists were also imprisoned after covering the health crisis in Wuhan.
Zhan is 177cm tall, now she has less than 40kg wt. She may not survive the coming cold winter. I hope the world remember how she used to be. pic.twitter.com/6hJ5AxBH88
– Ju Zhang (@ Jeffreychang81) October 30, 2021
RSF calls on the international community to put pressure on “before it’s too late”. Too late to save Zhang Zhan. “If she doesn’t survive”, said his brother, “I hope the world will remember her as she once was”.
“I may have a rebellious soul”, can we hear Zhang Zhan wonder in a video. “I just want to document reality. Why can’t I show what is true?”