Missing Wuhan citizen journalist reappears after two months
A whistleblowing citizen journalist who went missing while reporting on the coronavirus in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the outbreak emerged in December, finally resurfaced Wednesday — saying he’d been forcibly quarantined by police.
Li Zehua was last seen on Feb. 26 when he livestreamed what he said were security agents entering his temporary apartment in Wuhan, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
The video sparked serious concerns for the citizen journalist, who first went to Wuhan to investigate the disappearance of another journalist covering the crisis, Chen Qiushi, according to CPJ.
The YouTuber — known online as Kcriss Li — finally reappeared on Wednesday, calmly telling his story in a video posted to numerous social media feeds.
He claimed that the three men he’d filmed confronting him at his apartment took him to a police station, where he was investigated for disrupting public order, according to a translation by the Guardian.
But police said they would not charge him — instead forcing him into closely monitored quarantine because he had visited “sensitive epidemic areas,” he claimed, the Guardian said.
“Throughout the whole time, the police acted civilly and legally, making sure I had rest and food. They really cared about me,” he said in his video, according to the UK paper’s report.
He had been forced to give all his electronics to a friend and was monitored by security guards in quarantine, he reportedly said.
Despite concerns for his safety, Li claimed he had been released on March 28 and then spent time with his family.
“May God bless China and the people of the world unite,” he proclaimed in the video.
The Guardian noted that his “neutral and patriotic” tone was “markedly different” from his previous videos — in which he proudly said he wanted to “stand up” against any cover-ups involving the pandemic.
“I don’t want to remain silent, or shut my eyes and ears,” he had said in earlier videos, according to the report.