While the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread, the Communist government of China has continued to arrest its own citizens who are daring to speak out against the government for its poor handling of the disease, as reported by Fox News.
The most recent example is Zhang Xuezhong, a 43-year-old constitutional lawyer who posted a letter online criticizing the government for its “long-term tight control society,” which “has almost completely destroyed the organization and self-help capabilities of Chinese society.”
Zhang is one of many to be arrested for simply stating the truth about the government’s failure to adequately contain the virus or to warn the world about its contagiousness. Others who have been arrested include doctors, nurses, lawyers, and journalists. One study from China Digital Times showed that at least 500 people were arrested for criticizing the government during the months of January, February, and March.
The earliest and most infamous case was Dr. Li Wenliang, a 34-year-old doctor in Wuhan who saw the earliest signs of the coronavirus’s lethality and tried to warn about its possible spread as early as December. He was arrested, forced to apologize to the government, and coerced into denouncing his own observations. He was later found dead, supposedly of the virus, but rumors have circulated that he may have been assassinated instead.