China Targets Thousands Who Spoke Out About The Coronavirus Epidemic

The ruling Chinese Communist Party has targeted thousands of people for speaking out about the coronavirus epidemic in the country since it began in late December in the central city of Wuhan, an overseas-based rights group has said. "Human rights violations surged in China since the Chinese government began implementing draconian measures in response to COVID-19," the Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network said in a report this week.

"These include deleting critical information online, censoring the media, punishing whistleblowing doctors, detaining and disappearing independent journalists and government critics, and kicking out foreign reporters," it said.

Since state news agency Xinhua first reported that President Xi Jinping would lead "a people's war" on the epidemic on Jan. 20, police had handled 5,111 cases of "fabricating and deliberately disseminating false and harmful information," according to a Feb. 21 statement from the ministry of public security.

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