Chinese Christian human rights defender Zhang Zhan has been released from prison upon completion of a four-year prison sentence on charges of ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble’.

Ms Zhang was detained by Shanghai police on 14 May 2020 for reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic from Wuhan. In December 2020 she was sentenced to four years in prison by the Pudong New District Court, in a closed-door trial that lasted less than three hours. The charges against Ms Zhang were completely unfounded and are frequently used by the Chinese authorities to target human rights defenders.

During her detention, Ms Zhang staged a hunger strike in protest of her treatment, and her health was reportedly in critical condition in August 2021.

In a video posted on X by activist Jane Wang on 21 May 2024, Ms Zhang is seen confirming that she was taken by police to her older brother’s home in Shanghai on 13 May. Ms Wang added that it was not possible to confirm where Zhang Zhan was when the video was recorded, or who recorded it for her, and that an intermediary had reported that she still faces restrictions on her freedom.

CSW’s Founder President Mervyn Thomas said: ‘CSW is pleased to learn that Zhang Zhan has been freed from prison and reunited with her family, but we maintain that she should never have spent a day in detention in the first place. Her only ‘crime’ was to ‘seek the truth at all costs’ and she is just one of countless Chinese citizens and human rights defenders who have been harassed, detained and imprisoned for standing up for truth and justice. We insist that the Chinese government must now ensure that Ms Zhang is able to enjoy her freedom without further harassment, restrictions or mistreatment, and continue to call on the international community to ensure that those who subjected her to this injustice are held to account.’