U.N. rights office decries jail term for citizen-journalist in China's Wuhan

Reuters

Updated 28 December 2020 at 8:40 am·1-min read

Handout picture of citizen-journalist Zhang Zhan

GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations human rights office voiced concern on Monday at the four-year prison term imposed by a Chinese court on citizen journalist Zhang Zhan who reported from Wuhan early in the pandemic and reiterated its call for her release.

"We raised her case with the authorities throughout 2020 as an example of the excessive clampdown on freedom of expression linked to #COVID19 & continue to call for her release," it said in a tweet.

A Chinese court handed a four-year jail term to Zhang on Monday on grounds of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble", her lawyer said.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by Louise Heavens)

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