The European Union on Tuesday, November 23 asked China to immediately release and treat Chinese journalist Zhang Zhan, imprisoned for filming the quarantine of Wuhan, the first city in the world to be hit by Covid-19.
Read also The UN calls on Beijing to release citizen journalist Zhang Zhan "immediately"
The "
citizen journalist
" Zhang Zhan, 38, observed a hunger strike after being convicted end of 2020 to four years in prison for "
incitement to disturbance of public order
", a frequent ground against China political opponents. She is severely emaciated and "
may not live very long,
" her brother, Zhang Ju, warned earlier this month.
“
Zhang Zhan's health is deteriorating rapidly while she remains in prison.
Zhang Zhan suffers, among other things, from severe malnutrition
, ”lamented Tuesday Nabila Massrali, spokesman for the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell.
"
The EU urges China to take all necessary measures to ensure that Zhang Zhan urgently receives adequate medical treatment and that she has access to family members and lawyers of her choice,
" he said. she added, in a statement on her Twitter account.
"
The EU calls on China to respect its international human rights obligations and immediately and unconditionally release Zhang Zhan
."
"Repeated requests" in vain
This former Shanghai lawyer was detained on May 15, 2020 and sentenced on December 28, 2020 to four years in prison for a report on the Covid-19 pandemic in Wuhan, in central China, Nabila Massrali recalled.
In February 2020, she went to Wuhan to report on the situation there, a few days after the quarantine of the metropolis of 11 million inhabitants.
His images of patients bedridden in an overcrowded hospital corridor had given a rare glimpse of the sanitary conditions in the city, plagued by the coronavirus.
Read alsoZhang Zhan, Chinese journalist sentenced for his coverage of Covid-19, is close to death
The EU's appeal launched on Tuesday "
follows repeated requests - but still unanswered - addressed to the Chinese authorities regarding the situation of Zhang Zhan,
" said Nabila Massrali.
