As citizen journalist Zhang Zhan lies in a CCP jail – for asking all the right questions about the origins of Covid in Wuhan – The UK says it raised her case “in its 2022 Human Rights and Democracy Report”. It’s almost 2024 and this brave young woman must not be forgotten.

following answer to your written parliamentary question (HL855):

Question by Lord Alton of Liverpool :
To ask His Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of the People’s Republic of China about the continued incarceration of the journalist Zhang Zhan, who attempted to question Communist Party officials in Wuhan about the origins of COVID-19; and what response, if any, they have received. (HL855)

Tabled on: 05 December 2023

Answer:
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon:

There are severe restrictions on media freedom in China, and the situation for journalists is deteriorating. In July 2023, the UK raised its concerns about censorship and media freedom in China, including the case of citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, in its 2022 Human Rights and Democracy Report. British diplomats have attempted to attend trials of citizen journalists and rights activists in China.

More generally, we regularly raise the human rights situation in China directly with the Chinese authorities at the highest levels. The Foreign Secretary did so in his introductory call with China’s Foreign Minister on 5 December.

Date and time of answer: 19 Dec 2023 at 17:30.

Previous Posts about Zhang Zhan:

Red Wednesday and the need to defend the persecuted raised today in the House of Lords. Minister promises to look again at the case of Zhang Zhan the young woman lawyer, motivated by her faith, and jailed by the CCP for 4 years for daring to ask probing questions about the origins of Covid 19.

Government responds to recent reports that Chinese citizens who attempted to report on the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 have disappeared, or have been imprisoned. And have called for the release of citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, who was jailed after reporting about the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan.

Zhang Zhan – citizen journalists-targeted by the CCP for reporting on COVID-19. “I will continue to fight in a Christian way, even at the cost of my life.”

CSW reports that Ren Qiuanniu, the lawyer who defended Chinese human rights advocate Zhang Zhan, has received a letter from the Chinese Communist Party authorities saying that his license to practice as a lawyer may be revoked. This graphically exposes the contempt which the CCP has for the right of defendants to have a fair and free trial and the intimidation which lawyers and their clients face.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, has provided the