US asks China to release journalist who reported Wuhan outbreak following her serious health condition
Zee News
Citizen journalist Zhang Zhan was given a four-year jail term over her reporting of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan.
New Delhi: The US State Department has urged China to release citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, expressing deep concerns over her deteriorating health, the BBC reported. She was given a four-year jail term over her reporting of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan when the pandemic began.
Zhang has been on an intermittent hunger strike since she was detained in May last year, the report said. The US move comes after reports that she is perilously close to death.
"We have repeatedly expressed our serious concerns about the arbitrary nature of her detention and her mistreatment during it," US State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters, the report added. "We reiterate our call to the PRC for her immediate and unconditional release."
