China jails woman for Wuhan virus reporting

Shanghai, December 28

A Chinese court handed a four-year jail term on Monday to a citizen-journalist who reported from the central city of Wuhan at the peak of last year’s Covid outbreak, on grounds of picking quarrels and provoking trouble, her lawyer said.

Zhang Zhan, 37, the first such person known to have been tried, was among a handful of people whose firsthand accounts from crowded hospitals and empty streets painted a more dire picture of the pandemic epicentre than the official narrative.

“All she did was say a few true words, and for that she got four years,” said Shao Wenxia, Zhang’s mother. The UN human rights office has voiced concern at Zhan's jail term. — Reuters