Chinese Christian human rights defender Zhang Zhan was sentenced to four years in prison on charges of ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble’ by the Pudong New Area People's Court in Shanghai, China, on 19 September.

Zhang was detained in her hometown in Sanyuan County, Xianyang, Shaanxi Province on 28 August 2024 after she had reportedly travelled to neighbouring Gansu Province to assist a young pro-democracy activist in obtaining legal representation. She was subsequently formally arrested and placed in Shanghai’s Pudong Detention Centre. On 25 January 2025 she began a hunger strike in protest of her detention, and was force-fed at the detention centre.

Zhang had previously received the same sentence on the same charge in December 2020 after she was detained by Shanghai police in May 2020 for reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic from Wuhan. She was released on 13 May 2024 upon completion of her initial sentence, however Amnesty International reported that she had been repeatedly taken in for police questioning prior to her re-detention three months later.

Jeremy Laurence, a spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office, described Zhang’s latest sentencing as ‘deeply disturbing’ and called for her immediate and unconditional release, raising concerns ‘about the conduct of Zhang’s trial, given that independent observers were not allowed to attend her hearing.’

CSW’s Founder President Mervyn Thomas said: ‘Once again Zhang Zhan has been sentenced to four years in prison, after over a year in detention already, on completely unfounded charges that are routinely used to silence human rights defenders in China. CSW echoes calls for her immediate and unconditional release, and we urge the international community to hold the Chinese government to account for the continued injustices to which it has subjected this courageous human rights defender.’