A Chinese citizen journalist who went viral for his reporting on coronavirus from Wuhan has gone missing, and his family says he's been forcibly quarantined
3 hours ago
Chen Qiushi, a Chinese lawyer and citizen journalist, went viral on YouTube and Twitter for reporting on the Wuhan coronavirus from the epicenter of the outbreak.
Screenshot YouTube/Chen Qiushi
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He spoke out about the Wuhan virus. Now his family and friends fear he's been silenced - CNN
Sun February 9, 2020
“Chen Qiushi, a citizen journalist who had been doing critical reporting from Wuhan, the central Chinese city at the epicenter of the outbreak, went missing on Thursday evening, just as hundreds of thousands of people in China began demanding freedom of speech online.”
[...]
“Li's passing ignited
a storm of outrageacross China, with an intensity and scope rarely seen in its tightly-controled online sphere. People called for an official apology from the government and flooded social media with the hashtag "I want freedom of speech," a fundamental right supposedly protected under the country's constitution.”
[...]
“We're worried for his physical safety but also worried that while he's missing he might get infected by the virus," a friend who had been authorized by Chen to take over his Twitter account should he disappear told CNN. The individual requested anonymity for fear of reprisals by the government.”
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He ducked Chinese authorities to report on coronavirus in Wuhan. Then he disappeared.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/02/09/chen-qiushi-coronavirus-wuhan/
““I’m afraid. In front of me is disease, behind me is China’s legal and administrative power,” he said, according to
multiple translations. “But as long as I’m alive, I’ll speak what I’ve seen and what I’ve heard. I’m not afraid of dying. Why should I be afraid of you, Communist Party?””
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Chen Qiushi: A citizen journalist on the frontline of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP