Zhang Zhan, a former lawyer, was sentenced at a brief hearing in a Shanghai court for allegedly "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" for her reporting in the chaotic initial stages of the outbreak.
By Patrick Goodenough | December 28, 2020 | 7:19pm EST
A Hong Kong pro-democracy activist, Lee Cheuk-Yan, protests on Monday against the jailing of Zhang Zhan, whose image appears in the poster behind him. (Photo by Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images)
(Adds reaction from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo)
(CNSNews.com) – Days before a team of international experts is expected to visit Wuhan to investigate the origins of the coronavirus outbreak, China’s jailing of a citizen journalist for her critical coverage of the outbreak is drawing strong condemnation, including from the U.S. government and the United Nations.
Zhang Zhan was convicted in Shanghai on Monday of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” and sentenced to four years’ imprisonment, according to her lawyer.
Christian reporter Zhang Zhan, 37, was found guilty by Shanghai Pudong New Area People’s Court of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble due to her reporting on the COVID crisis in Wuhan. | YouTube/DW
A Christian reporter who saw her work as God’s will has been sentenced to four years in prison in Shanghai after she documented the coronavirus outbreak in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
Zhang Zhan, 37, was found guilty by Shanghai Pudong New Area People’s Court on Monday morning of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” the South China Morning Post reports. The sentence is often used to silence dissidents.
Pompeo demands China release journalist who documented Wuhan coronavirus outbreak Print this article
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanded Chinese Communist Party release Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, who was sentenced to four years in prison this week for her reporting on the ground in Wuhan amid the coronavirus outbreak in early 2020.
The top U.S. diplomat joined a chorus of other officials condemning the Chinese government for silencing Zhang, as the federal government, Congress, and journalists worldwide have presented a host of evidence showing the Chinese government sought to cover up the COVID-19 outbreak and worked to lie about its origin accusations China denies.
The hysterical propaganda against communist nations and fighters goes hand in hand with the bombs, torture and assassination that are US/British/French/NATO specialties. The modern version of “human rights” campaigning was born out of the US defeat in Vietnam, and the spate of revelations that came out of that period about US crimes (Pentagon Papers, Church Senate investigations, Winter Soldier, etc.) in
an attempt to rebrand the Vietnam war criminals as some sort of humanitarians. The Helsinki Accords were a US propaganda program that the misguided leaders of the USSR, along with Tito, etc. approved with the vain hope of detente and peaceful cooperation between nations. In reality, the US never wanted such peaceful coexistence.