A citizen journalist who reported on the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan early this year was almost admitted to a psychiatric hospital, a tactic believed to be used by the Chinese government to target dissidents.

Shanghai-based lawyer Zhang Zhan, 37, got into trouble with the law after she traveled to Wuhan in Hubei province to cover news of the COVID-19 pandemic and the patients. She was arrested in mid-May for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” and was moved in September to Pudong district in Shanghai for trial.

Authorities found Zhang’s case tricky as they were unable to gather concrete evidence of her supposed crime, and when they discovered a history of mental illness in the family, they tried to blame her journalistic work on it, Radio Free Asia reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Zhang’s mother rejected their suggestion to send her daughter to a psychiatric hospital, the report said.

According to an indictment sheet from Pudong prosecutors, Zhang arrived in Wuhan on Feb. 3. She then posted text messages and videos on various platforms, including WeChat and Twitter, to “disseminate a tremendous amount of fake information,” and accepted interviews with overseas media such as RFA to “maliciously make up information about the coronavirus pandemic in Wuhan.”

The hearing for Zhang’s trial would start soon, RFA reported, citing many unnamed sources. She could face up to five years in prison, prosecutors' documents showed.

Zhang went on hunger strikes during her detention to protest against her arrest and was twice forced to undergo assessment for mental illness.

Click here for Chinese version

---------------------------------

Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE

To download the latest version,

iOS: bit.ly/AD_iOS

Android: bit.ly/AD_android

Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play