China Re-Arrests Zhang Zhan: RSF Condemns Renewed Persecution of Citizen Journalist

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned the re-arrest of Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, calling it a renewed act of repression against independent journalism in China. Zhang, a former lawyer who rose to prominence for her reporting from Wuhan during the initial COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, was detained again in August 2024, just three months after completing a four-year prison sentence for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”

Zhang’s earlier imprisonment followed her courageous documentation of the lockdown in Wuhan, where she livestreamed images, interviewed locals, and challenged the official state narrative. Her work provided a rare glimpse into conditions on the ground during China’s tightly controlled pandemic response. In retaliation, Chinese authorities sentenced her in December 2020 under vague public order charges. While in prison, Zhang staged hunger strikes, was force-fed, and endured severe malnutrition, leading to international concern for her health and safety.

RSF revealed that Zhang was rearrested in Shanghai and placed in pre-trial detention at Pudong Detention Center. She now faces fresh charges under the same pretext—”picking quarrels and provoking trouble”—a charge widely criticized for its elasticity and use in silencing dissent. RSF expressed alarm that Zhang has resumed a hunger strike and could face up to five more years in prison.

The organization denounced the Chinese regime’s continued targeting of journalists and called on the international community to pressure Beijing for Zhang’s immediate release. RSF emphasized that the re-arrest so soon after her release reveals the Chinese Communist Party’s determination to crush all independent voices, particularly those that gain global attention.

Zhang Zhan’s case has become emblematic of the broader crackdown on press freedom in China, where dozens of journalists remain imprisoned and the state tightly controls all media narratives. Her defiance in the face of brutal punishment underscores the immense personal cost of truth-telling under authoritarian rule.

RSF’s #FreeZhangZhan campaign urges governments, media organizations, and civil society to rally behind her cause, warning that silence only emboldens repression. As Zhang once said in a courtroom speech: “The truth has never been a crime.”