Dear friends,

Journalist Zhang Zhan, previously imprisoned for four years for her independent reporting on the early stages of the Covid-19 outbreak in the city of Wuhan in Central China, has been detained again. 

On 1 September, independent Chinese news website Weiquanwang revealed that Zhang Zhan is being held in Pudong Detention Center in Shanghai. The journalist was apprehended by police while she was travelling to her hometown in northwest China on 28 August. Since that time she has not answered her phone or updated her social media accounts where she had recently resumed posting.

The reasons for her detention are unclear, but in the weeks prior to this incident, Zhang Zhan had been sharing news about the harassment of other activists in China on social media. She had also travelled to the province of Gansu to persuade the mother of a recently arrested activist to sign a power of attorney. 

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is alarmed by this latest development in the Chinese regime’s relentless targeting of Zhang Zhan - a laureate of RSF’s Press Freedom Prize. After barely surviving a hunger strike during her previous period of imprisonment and living under heavy state surveillance since her release in May, it is clear that the Chinese authorities remain intent on continuing to punish Zhang Zhan for her independent journalism.

It is more urgent than ever for the international diplomatic community to intervene with Beijing to ensure Zhang Zhan’s safety and secure her full freedom without delay. Your donation is of utmost importance to RSF’s campaigning for journalists like Zhang Zhan, who fight every day to do their journalistic work and provide the world with reliable information. Thank you for your support.