Hong Kong (CNN) An independent Chinese journalist who reported from Wuhan at the height of the initial coronavirus outbreak has been jailed for four years by a Shanghai court, her lawyer said Monday. A former lawyer, Zhang traveled to the central Chinese city in early February to report on the pandemic and subsequent attempts to contain it, just as the authorities began reining in state-run and private Chinese media. For more than three months, she documented snippets of life under lockdown in Wuhan and the harsh reality faced by its residents, from overflowing hospitals to empty shops . She posted her observations, photos and videos on Wechat, Twitter and YouTube -- the latter two of which are blocked in China. Zhang is the first citizen journalist known to have been sentenced for her role in reporting on the coronavirus pandemic.

Source: CNN December 28, 2020 05:48 UTC