RSF - Reporters sans frontières

09/22/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/23/2025 04:12

China: COVID-19 journalist Zhang Zhan sentenced again to 4 years in prison

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) strongly condemns the new four-year prison sentence handed to journalist Zhang Zhan on trumped-up charges, and urges the international community to intensify pressure on Beijing to ensure her safety and demand her immediate release.

According to RSF sources and independent Chinese human rights groups, including Weiquanwang, Zhang Zhan was sentenced to four years in prison on fabricated charges of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" on 19 September 2025 following a closed-door trial.

The 2021 RSF Press Freedom Award laureate has been cut off from the outside worldfor more than a year, with her whereabouts and conditions kept secret. On the day of her trial at the Pudong New Area People's Court in Shanghai, diplomats from at least seven countrieswere denied entry. At least five activists seeking to observe proceedings were also barred from entering and, in some cases, briefly detained.

"We are shocked and outraged by this baseless sentence. The arbitrary sentencing of Zhang Zhan by the Chinese regime sends another chilling message to all independent reporters. Zhang Zhan should never have been detained in the first place, but rather celebrated as a hero of reliable information in the country. We renew our call on the international community to intensify pressure on Beijing to end her persecution, ensure her safety and demand her immediate release.

Antoine Bernard
RSF Director of Advocacy and Assistance

On 21 September, both the United Nations' Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the European Commissioncondemned the sentencing of Zhang Zhan and called for her immediate and unconditional release.

Zhang was detainedon 28 August 2024 and held at Shanghai's Pudong Detention Centre. This is her second prison term: she was first arrested in May 2020 for reporting from Wuhan during the COVID-19 outbreak, posting more than 100 videos online. Sentenced to four yearsthat December, she nearly died while on hunger strike in protest of her mistreatment before being released in May 2024. Throughout her first imprisonment, RSF campaigned for her releaseand warned about her mistreatment in prison.

China, the world's biggest prison for journalists and press freedom defenders with at least 120 media workers currently behind bars, is ranked 178th out of 180 countries and territories in the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index.

ASIA-PACIFIC
China
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178/ 180
Score : 14.80
Published on22.09.2025
  • ASIA-PACIFIC
  • China
  • Legal framework and justice system
  • Arbitrary detention and proceedings
  • News
  • Campaign
  • Denunciation
  • RSF Prize
  • Reporter (Visiting reporter / War reporter)
  • Press freedom
  • Right to news and information
  • Women
  • Information heroes
  • Covid-19
  • Prize
  • Arbitrary detention
  • Imprisonment
  • Judicial harassment
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