Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has confirmed that a Chinese blogger who was jailed for four years for reporting the first case of the coronavirus in Wuhan has been released from prison.
The media forwarded the video that Ms. Zhang was released from prison as scheduled and thanked everyone for their concern.
She was due to be released last week, but friends and supporters are worried after being unable to contact her.
Zhang, a former lawyer, traveled to Wuhan and documented the government’s response to the epidemic in a series of widely circulated online videos.
Media watchdogs and human rights groups have said Ms Zhang was wrongly prosecuted.
Reporters Without Borders said her freedoms were extremely limited.
In the short video posted online, the 40-year-old man is standing in the corridor wearing pajamas. She said in a very soft voice that on May 13 she was allowed to go to her brother’s house.
She thanked people for their concern for her health.
In February 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, she traveled from her home in Shanghai to Wuhan and shot videos criticizing hospital overcrowding, harassment of victims, and alleged cover-up of the true death toll.
Her live streams and articles were widely viewed on social media, and she continued to create them despite threats from authorities.
Ms. Zhang was jailed in May 2020 for “seeking provocation,” a common charge against Chinese activists.
She refused food during the first months of her detention, and her lawyer said she was then force-fed through a tube. She remained on a partial hunger strike until July 2023, when she reportedly lost half her weight to just 37 kilograms (81.6 pounds).
She also suffered from severe malnutrition, gastrointestinal problems and a low white blood cell count, Doctors Without Borders said.
Her supporters say that although she is now out of prison, she is still closely monitored by authorities.
When the epidemic first broke out in early 2020, China’s Internet, despite heavy censorship, was filled with information describing government cover-ups and failures of the health care system.
But the state’s censorship machinery suppressed unprecedented online outrage.
The Communist Party has flooded state media with positive reports about its response to Covid-19. In February 2023, the party’s top leader declared victory over the virus and described the government’s response to Covid-19 as a “miracle”.
