(Geneva) Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, imprisoned after filming the beginnings of the COVID-19 epidemic in Wuhan, must be “released immediately”, claims the UN Friday.
“We call on the Chinese authorities to examine Zhang’s immediate release, if only for humanitarian reasons, and to make emergency medical assistance available to him, with respect for his will and dignity,” said a spokesperson for the High Commission, Marta Hurtado, quoted in a statement.
Mme Zhang, 38, is on hunger strike after being sentenced at the end of 2020 to four years in prison for “provoking public disturbances”, a motive frequently invoked in China against political opponents.
“We are very concerned about the rapid deterioration of the health condition” of Zhang Zhan, whose life is threatened, added Mr.me Hurtado.
“The free flow of solid information is particularly important at the very beginning of crisis situations such as health emergencies,” Mr.me Hurtado.
“We renew our call to all countries to ensure that all emergency measures, including those concerning freedom of expression and the media, introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic are strictly necessary, proportionate in view of their objective and non-discriminatory, ”added the spokesperson.
In February 2020, the former Shanghai lawyer went to Wuhan, in central China, to report on the situation there a few days after the quarantine of the metropolis of 11 million inhabitants.
His images of patients bedridden in an overcrowded hospital corridor had given a rare glimpse of the sanitary conditions in the city, plagued by the coronavirus.
She is now severely emaciated and “may not live very long,” her brother, Zhang Ju, warned several weeks ago on Twitter. “She may not make it through the winter.”
One of the journalist’s lawyers, who requested anonymity, told AFP that the family had requested visitation rights at Shanghai Women’s Prison three weeks ago, but had not received a response. .
Besides Zhang Zhan, at least three other independent journalists, Chen Qiushi, Fang Bin and Li Zehua, have been taken into custody after covering the epidemic crisis in Wuhan.