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Chinese journalist, who exposed Wuhan Covid-19 crisis, continues hunger strike from jail

WION Web Team
New Delhi, Delhi, IndiaUpdated: Mar 05, 2021, 11:50 AM IST
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Chinese citizen journalist, Zhang Zhan, to face the judges soon. Photograph:(Twitter)

Story highlights

One of her lawyers said Zhang has become very 'thin' and 'unrecognisable' as she is on a hunger strike to protest against the illegal treatment given to her

Zhang Zhan, journalist who showed the reality of the coronavirus outbreak in China's Wuhan, is severely weakened, but continuing her hunger strike from jail. 

She caught the world's attention after she shared footage of bedridden patients lined up in a hospital corridor in Wuhan during the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in China.

Watch | 

In another video, Zhang calmly handles a security officer who tried to stop her from filming. 

"It's my right to monitor the government," she says as the man tries to snatch her phone. 

However, Zhang's work, which exposed the mismanagement of the Chinese government, came at a great cost as she was detained in May.

Seven months later, the 37-year-old was sentenced to jail for four years for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble".  

'Not eating way to tell them, they are wrong'

One of her lawyers said Zhang has become very "thin" and "unrecognisable" as she is on a hunger strike to protest against the illegal treatment given to her, reports news agency AFP. 

The lawyer said that she has been force-fed via nasal tubes. 

"By not eating, she wants to protest against the illegal nature of her treatment," said Zhang Keke, a member of the legal team representing Zhang.

"She believes that not eating is a way to tell them they are wrong."