Update on 18 November: After the publication of this press release, Chinese journalist Zhang Zhan was located in Shanghai Women’s Prison, but access to her family and lawyer remains limited.

On 17 November 2025, Gao Chengcai, the lawyer recently appointed to represent detained Chinese journalist Zhang Zhan, attempted to visit his new client at the Pudong Detention Centre in Shanghai. According to RSF, his request was denied, while her family was informed that she had been transferred to another facility to serve her second sentence. The authorities have refused to disclose the location of this facility or provide information on when she was transferred, and they are prohibiting any visits, raising concerns about her whereabouts. To date, her family has also not received any official documents regarding the journalist’s conviction and sentencing.

“We are deeply concerned for Zhang Zhan's safety. By refusing to reveal her new place of detention, the Chinese authorities are, de facto, subjecting her to enforced disappearance. The international community must not remain silent — it must ensure the Chinese authorities immediately reveal her location and end their shameful persecution of this heroine of journalism.

Abuse and mistreatment for courageous reporting

According to RSF sources, Zhang Zhan was sentenced to four years in prison on fabricated charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” on 19 September 2025 after a closed-door trial. The 2021 RSF Press Freedom Award laureate has been cut off from the outside world for over a year, with her whereabouts and conditions kept secret. On the day of her trial at the Pudong New Area People’s Court in Shanghai, diplomats from at least seven countries and at least five activists were denied entry.

On 21 September, both the United Nations’ Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the European Commission condemned the sentencing of Zhang Zhan and called for her immediate and unconditional release.

This is her second prison term; she was first arrested in May 2020 for reporting from Wuhan during the COVID-19 outbreak, posting over 100 videos online. Sentenced to four years that December, she nearly died on a hunger strike protesting her mistreatment before being released in May 2024. Throughout her first imprisonment, RSF campaigned for her release  and highlighted her mistreatment in prison.

China, the world’s biggest prison for journalists and press freedom defenders with at least 120 media workers currently behind bars, is ranked 178th out of 180 countries and territories in the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index.