The Associated Press could not independently confirm his release and could not confirm the details with the authorities.
Two offices of Wuhan’s public security bureau did not provide a phone number of their information office or answer any questions. Phone calls to a court that reportedly sentenced Fang rang unanswered on Sunday afternoon. A woman from another court that had reportedly handled Fang’s appeal said she was not authorised to answer questions.
In early 2020, the initial COVID-19 outbreak devastated the city of Wuhan, home to 11 million residents, in central China’s Hubei province. Under a 76-day lockdown, its streets were deserted for months, apart from ambulances and security personnel.
At that time, a small number of citizen journalists tried to tell their stories and those of others with smartphones and social media accounts, defying the Communist Party’s tightly policed monopoly on information.
Although their movement was small, the scale was unprecedented in any previous major disease outbreak or disaster in China.
But the information they posed soon got them into trouble. Fang and another citizen journalist, Chen Qiushi, disappeared in February.
Chen in September 2021 resurfaced on his friend’s live video feed on YouTube, saying he had suffered from depression. But he did not provide details about his disappearance.
Another citizen journalist, Zhang Zhan, who also had reported on the early stage of the outbreak, was sentenced to four years in prison on charges of picking fights and provoking trouble in December 2020. About eight months later, her lawyer said she was in ill health after staging a long-running hunger strike.
Source: CNA
