New York, May 14, 2025—CPJ and 58 other press freedom and human rights groups condemned the Chinese government’s ongoing arbitrary detention of independent journalist Zhang Zhan and called for her immediate release on the fifth anniversary of her arrest.
Zhang was first detained on May 14, 2020, while reporting on the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, China. Zhang completed a four-year prison sentence for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, but was arrested again in August 2024 on the same charges, three months after her release. Prior to her latest arrest, Zhang continued to report on the harassment of Chinese activists on her social media. If convicted, she could face up to five more years in prison.
Zhang has been hospitalized twice in detention due to intermittent hunger strikes. In January 2025, detention center authorities subjected her to forced nasogastric feeding after she began another hunger strike to protest her second arrest. The date of her trial is still unknown.
Read the joint statement here.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.