Wuhan whistleblower 'kept in restraints and fed by tube in detention'

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</div> </div><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>Ms Zhang was formally indicted by public prosecutors of Shanghai for allegedly spreading false information, according to court papers circulating online.</p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>She is believed to be the fourth Chinese independent reporter to have vanished from the public sight after posting reports from Wuhan, the former epicentre of the global health crisis.</p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>Human rights campaigners are urging the Chinese government to release Ms Zhang. </p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>A New York-based human rights organisation told MailOnline that Ms Zhang was being punished ‘for doing exactly what the world desperately needed: reporting on the coronavirus from Wuhan’.</p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>Home to some 11million people, the Chinese provincial capital caught international attention last December when the coronavirus first broke out there before spreading around the globe, with at least  so far. </p><div class=”artSplitter mol-img-group” style=”style”> <div class=”mol-img”> <div class=”image-wrap”> </div> <noscript> </noscript> </div> <p class=”imageCaption”>Zhang Zhan (pictured) was detained by police in May on suspicion of ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble’. She had travelled to Wuhan to report about the coronavirus outbreak there</p></div><div class=”artSplitter mol-img-group” style=”style”> <div class=”mol-img”> <div class=”image-wrap”> </div> <noscript> </noscript> </div> <p class=”imageCaption”>The coronavirus was first detected in the city of 11million in central China. Mask-donning resident are pictured wait for medical attention at Wuhan Red Cross Hospital on January 25</p></div><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>Mr Zhang’s lawyer, Zhang Keke, described the grim situation of his client after visiting her in a detention centre in Shanghai on Tuesday afternoon, 웹소설 공모전 according to a post on , a Chinese website which publishes updates about activists.</p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>The independent reporter was said to be ill with various conditions, including headache, stomachache and pain in the mouth and throat – all believed to be caused by the force-feeding. </p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>Her restraint belts had made it difficult for her to sleep at night and she needed assistance for the toilet, the post read. </p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>Ms Zhang was ‘completely exhausted’ and ‘felt every day is torment’, and could not stop crying during the meeting with her lawyer, the article said.</p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>She allegedly refused to halt her hunger strike even though her lawyer had pleaded her to stop on behalf of her family and friends.</p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>She also allegedly denied the official accusations that she had fabricated false information and insisted that all her reports had come from first-hand interviews and real-location visits in Wuhan.   </p><div class=”artSplitter mol-img-group” style=”style”><div class=”splitLeft”><div class=”mol-img”> <div class=”image-wrap”> </div> <noscript> </noscript> </div></div><div class=”splitRight”><div class=”mol-img”> <div class=”image-wrap”> </div> <noscript> </noscript> </div></div><div class=”clear”></div><p class=”imageCaption”>One video published by Ms Zhang on YouTube purports to show the ER department of the Hubei Provincial People’s Hospital overrun by patients who had to sleep in the corridor</p></div><div class=”artSplitter mol-img-group” style=”style”><div class=”splitLeft”><div class=”mol-img”> <div class=”image-wrap”> </div> <noscript> </noscript> </div></div><div class=”splitRight”><div class=”mol-img”> <div class=”image-wrap”> </div> <noscript> </noscript> </div></div><div class=”clear”></div><p class=”imageCaption”>In another clip, Ms Zhang alleged that one crematorium in the former epicentre was working in the middle of the night in mid-February, thought to be burning the bodies of COVID-19 victims</p></div><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>According to , Ms Zhang’s persecution documents were released by the People’s Procuratorate of Pudong New District of Shanghai on September 15.  </p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>One of the official files accused Ms Zhang of ‘maliciously hyping the epidemic of the novel coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan’ through popular Chinese messaging app WeChat, as well as Twitter and YouTube.</p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>The prosecutor claimed that Ms Zhang had spread ‘a large amount of false information’ through text and videos and accepted interviews with foreign media outlets.</p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>The other document suggested the judge should sentence Ms Zhang to a maximum of five years in jail for ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble’.</p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>’Picking quarrels and provoking trouble’ is a vaguely defined charge often used by Chinese authorities to target activists and dissidents, which carries a prison sentence of up to five years. </p><div class=”artSplitter mol-img-group” style=”style”><div class=”splitLeft”><div class=”mol-img”> <div class=”image-wrap”> </div> <noscript> </noscript> </div></div><div class=”splitRight”><div class=”mol-img”> <div class=”image-wrap”> </div> <noscript> </noscript> </div></div><div class=”clear”></div><p class=”imageCaption”>In another video series, Ms Zhang said she wanted to visit the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which has been accused of being the origin of the coronavirus. The institute was surrounded by high-voltage electric fences and run by the military, Ms Zhang said while filming its exterior</p></div><div class=”artSplitter mol-img-group” style=”style”> <div class=”mol-img”> <div class=”image-wrap”> </div> <noscript> </noscript> </div> <p class=”imageCaption”>China has repeatedly denied the allegations put against the Wuhan virus institute (pictured). Beijing insists that the WHO found no evidence that the novel coronavirus was man-made</p></div><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>Radio Free Asia reported on November 12 that Ms Zhang had been on a hunger strike since June to protest against her arrest.</p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>Citing a lawyer who had spoken to Ms Zhang’s mother, stated that one of Ms Zhang’s lawyers had dropped out of the case – a likely result of the government’s pressure. Ms Zhang had only one lawyer left, the article claimed. </p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>Ms Zhang lived in Shanghai before being arrested for her coronavirus reports.</p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>Originally from the north-western province of Shaanxi, she had been critical of the Communist Party before the pandemic.</p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>Last year, 웹소설 공모전 she was detained by the police, also on suspicion of ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble’, after showing her support to pro-democracy Hong Kong protesters, according to a previous report. </p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>It is said the independent journalist arrived in Wuhan around February 1 to report on the coronavirus outbreak.</p><div class=”artSplitter mol-img-group” style=”style”> <div class=”mol-img”> <div class=”image-wrap”> </div> <noscript> </noscript> </div> <p class=”imageCaption”>The 37-year-old former lawyer has been formally indicted by public prosecutors of Shanghai for allegedly spreading false information, according to court papers circulating online </p></div><div class=”artSplitter mol-img-group” style=”style”> <div class=”mol-img” style=”height: auto;”> <div class=”image-wrap”> </div> <noscript> </noscript> </div> <p class=”imageCaption”>Wuhan caught international attention last December when the coronavirus first broke out there before spreading around the globe, killing at least 1,317,000 people so far. Pictured, patients infected with COVID-19 are seen at a makeshift hospital in Wuhan on February</p></div><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>According to Ms Zhang’s YouTube channel, she visited some of the most sensitive places in Wuhan at the height of the city’s COVID-19 outbreak, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology, crematoriums and hospitals.</p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>In uploaded on February 25, one man told Ms Zhang that he had just seen a crematorium van transporting corpses from Wuhan Wuchang Hospital. ‘It’s too scary,’ the man is heard saying while standing outside the medical facility. </p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>In released the next day, she appeared to film the exterior of the tightly guarded Wuhan Institute of Virology, which was at the centre of startling theories that the virus escaped from there. The institute was surrounded by high-voltage electric fences and run by the military, Ms Zhang claimed. </p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>She also how one crematorium was allegedly working overnight in mid-February, thought to be burning the bodies of COVID-19 victims. </p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>In addition, the Hubei Provincial People’s Hospital with patients on March 1 when official figures claimed that the number of daily infections had dropped sharply. </p><div class=”artSplitter mol-img-group” style=”style”> <div class=”mol-img”> <div class=”image-wrap”> </div> <noscript> </noscript> </div> <p class=”imageCaption”> Ms Zhang’s supporters have hailed her for revealing ‘the truth’ of the coronavirus outbreak</p></div><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>Ms Zhang’s supporters have hailed her for revealing ‘the truth’ of the epidemic.</p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>One person wrote on YouTube: ‘You are a brave woman. [You] are risking your life to report news for our web users. Thank you.'</p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>Another one said on the platform: ‘Thank you, sister, you are a true hero.’ </p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>One of her followers told  in September: ‘Zhang Zhan risked her life to go to infection area Wuhan to reveal the truth of Wuhan’s epidemic. Such a brave citizen journalist was arrested.’  </p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>Human Rights Watch, a US-based human rights group, condemned the Chinese authorities’ treatment of Ms Zhang.</p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>Wang Yaqiu, a China researcher at the organisation, told MailOnline: ‘Zhang Zhan is being punished for doing exactly what the world desperately needed: reporting on the coronavirus from Wuhan. </p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>’The detention of Zhan only reveals how confident Beijing actually is about its “success” in containing Covid-19.</p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>’Governments around the world should press Beijing to release Zhang and other wrongfully detained activists and citizen journalists immediately.’ </p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>It is alleged that Ms Zhang was ‘forced to disappear’ by authorities in Wuhan on May 14 and formally arrested in Shanghai on June 19. </p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>’I’m very worried about her health and the detention conditions, and her mother is heartbroken,’ Ms Zhang’s 63-year-old father told in June.</p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>’We don’t have any connections or money to get her out – we’re in an utterly powerless situation.'</p><div class=”moduleFull mol-video”><div><div itemprop=”video” itemscope=”itemscope” website content=”Secret footage shows piles of bodybags outside Wuhan hospital” itemprop=”name” /><meta content=”PT00M28S” itemprop=”duration” /><meta website itemprop=”thumbnailUrl” /><meta website itemprop=”contentURL” /><meta content=”2020-02-03T23:28:19+0000″ itemprop=”uploadDate” /><meta content=”576″ itemprop=”height” /><meta content=”1024″ itemprop=”width” /><meta content=”Secret footage from a Wuhan hospital has shown the piles of bodybags waiting outside, and captured the traumatic moment a son found out his father was going to die from the coronavirus.” itemprop=”description” /><div class=”item”> <div class=”vjs-video-container vjs-fixed vjs-span-two-col news” id=”v-1468615911260339098″> <video controls=”” class=”video-js vjs-default-skin” website footage shows piles of bodybags outside Wuhan website footage from a Wuhan hospital has shown the piles of bodybags waiting outside, and captured the traumatic moment a son found out his father was going to die from the coronavirus.website preload=”none”> <source website type=”video/mp4″></source> </video> </div> </div> </div></div></div><div class=”artSplitter mol-img-group” style=”style”> <div class=”mol-img”> <div class=”image-wrap”> </div> <noscript> </noscript> </div> <p class=”imageCaption”>Chen, 34, who went to Wuhan to report about the coronavirus outbreak independently, disappeared while reporting in Wuhan on February 6. His friend said he was being held under ‘supervised surveillance at designated residence’ in the eastern Chinese city Qingdao</p></div><div class=”artSplitter mol-img-group” style=”style”> <div class=”mol-img”> <div class=”image-wrap”> </div> <noscript> </noscript> </div> <p class=”imageCaption”>Fang Bin (pictured), a Wuhan resident, went missing on February 9 after releasing a series of videos, including one showing piles of bodies being loaded into a bus (below)</p></div><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>Before Ms Zhang, three other citizen journalists had vanished for publishing reports about Wuhan’s epidemic on international social media outlets.</p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>Chen Qiushi, 34, was last heard from on February 6 when he was reporting about the virus in Wuhan. Nearly eight months after his disappearance, Mr Chen’s close friend reportedly revealed in September that he was being held under ‘supervised surveillance at designated residence’ in the eastern Chinese city Qingdao.</p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>Fang Bin, a businessman, also disappeared in early February and is believed to have been taken into state custody.</p><p class=”mol-para-with-font”>Li Zehua, a 25-year-old former state TV journalist, disappeared in late February and re-appeared in late April. </p><div class=”moduleFull mol-video”><div><div itemprop=”video” itemscope=”itemscope” website content=”Clip purports to show moment of journalist ‘arrest’ in China” itemprop=”name” /><meta content=”PT00M15S” itemprop=”duration” /><meta website itemprop=”thumbnailUrl” /><meta website itemprop=”contentURL” /><meta content=”2020-04-23T01:48:58+0100″ itemprop=”uploadDate” /><meta content=”576″ itemprop=”height” /><meta content=”1024″ itemprop=”width” /><meta content=”This clip purports to show the moment a citizen journalist in China is arrested by authorities. Li Zehua, who had disappeared for two months, claims he was detained and forcibly quarantined by police while reporting from the frontline in Wuhan.” itemprop=”description” /><div class=”item”> <div class=”vjs-video-container vjs-fixed vjs-span-two-col news” id=”v-2597487604296927357″> <video controls=”” class=”video-js vjs-default-skin” website purports to show moment of journalist ‘arrest’ in website clip purports to show the moment a citizen journalist in China is arrested by authorities. Li Zehua, who had disappeared for two months, claims he was detained and forcibly quarantined by police while reporting from the frontline in Wuhan.website preload=”none”> <source website type=”video/mp4″></source> </video> </div> </div> </div></div></div><div class=”artSplitter mol-img-group” style=”style”> <div class=”mol-img”> <div class=”image-wrap”> </div> <noscript> </noscript> </div> <p class=”imageCaption”>Li Zehua (pictured) vanished on February 26 before re-appearing at the end of April. Li was likely targeted by secret police after visiting the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a report said</p></div></div>

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