A worker receives a COVID-19 test at the dining hall of a car parts factory in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province on Aug. 4, 2021. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)
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Zhang Hai, a Wuhan native living in Shenzhen who has been trying to hold the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities accountable for his father’s death during the initial COVID-19 outbreak, was recently threatened by CCP police.
Zhang told The Epoch Times on Oct. 29, “The police came to my home after 10 p.m. last night and said that I made inappropriate remarks on Twitter and WeChat. But they did not specifically say what I said that was inappropriate.”
Zhang’s posts on WeChat and Twitter were mainly about the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This incident makes me feel that they know that they are guilty of concealing the initial outbreak in Wuhan and very sensitive about it. Otherwise, why would the police come to my door at night?” he said.
Zhang Hai at his home in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province on Jan. 31, 2021. (Courtesy of Zhang Hai)
Zhang and his father were living in Shenzhen at the start of the pandemic. But on Feb. 1, 2020, because they were unaware of the outbreak in Wuhan, Zhang took his father to Wuhan to seek medical treatment. As a result, his father contracted COVID-19 in a Wuhan hospital and passed away from COVID-19 soon after.
Afterwards, Zhang filed a lawsuit with the Wuhan District Court to claim compensation from the local government and the hospital. Over the past two years, he has insisted on holding the authorities accountable for his father’s death, and has continued to express his views on the pandemic.
Zhang said, “They concealed the virus and harmed the people. I sued the local government but the court didn’t accept the case. They killed my father. I told the police [in Shenzhen], ‘You can either notify Wuhan and send someone to take me back.’ He told me, ‘You live within our jurisdiction. If you make inappropriate remarks, we will come to you.’”
Zhang asked the police, “What inappropriate remarks did I make? The local government has committed crimes and violated the law. Can’t I speak up? Can’t I sue them?”
COVID-19 appeared in Wuhan at the end of 2019. Because the CCP authorities concealed the outbreak, arrested front-line doctors who had direct contact and knowledge of the virus and outbreak and were speaking to the outside world, and then falsely claimed that the outbreak was controllable and could not be transmitted person to person, the epidemic was given the opportunity to spread throughout China and eventually, the world.
Refusing to Be Silenced
At the beginning of the pandemic, many family members of the deceased in Wuhan stood up to defend their rights, like Zhang Hai. But over time, they have become silent due to suppression by the CCP. Zhang, despite enormous pressure and even threats to his life, has persisted in seeking to hold the authorities accountable and demanding compensation alongside the families of some other victims.
Medical workers in protective suits attend to a patient inside an isolated ward of Wuhan Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak, in Hubei Province, China, on Feb. 16, 2020. (China Daily via Reuters)
Zhang told The Epoch Times, “It has been nearly three years since the outbreak of the COVID-19. I always believe that if the outbreak was not concealed at the beginning and could be announced in time, and actions were taken in a timely manner, I believe that the Chinese people and the people of the world would not be harmed by it … Up to now, China (the CCP) is still using the pandemic to turn people’s lives upside down.
He said, “The police came to my home and mentioned my WeChat posts. It indicates that they have been monitoring my activities and there’s no end to it. So I always think that even if I shut up or keep silent, they will still not leave me alone. But there is no way I will give up.”
Zhang added, “From the outbreak of the virus in Wuhan to the present, as a witness, it can be said that I am the only one who dares to speak up in China. If I don’t speak up again, this matter will really be forgotten and they would really get away with it for making the virus and causing the outbreak. Then, they can go around and blame others for it.”
Mainland internet writer Wang Jie (pseudonym) told The Epoch Times that there are so few other people like Zhang Hai who continue to speak out for their relatives who were killed in the pandemic.
Wang pointed out, “If all the families of the victims of the COVID-19 can stand up and speak out, the CCP will be afraid and deterred. If the government is not held accountable, such things will continue to happen, and the suffering of the Chinese people will never see an end.”
Wang hopes that the Chinese people and governments around the world will not give up their pursuit of holding the CCP accountable to safeguard the basic security of mankind.
Li Yun and Yi Ru contributed to this report.