A human rights lawyer turned citizen journalist who provided a rare glimpse into the epicenter of the coronavirus has disappeared after criticizing the Chinese Communist Party’s handling of the epidemic, according to family and friends.
Chen Qiushi posted videos to YouTube and Twitter detailing the lack of preparedness he witnessed on the ground in Wuhan, China. His videos show temporary hospital beds and staff without the proper equipment to treat the deadly and mysterious illness. Chen also spoke directly to the camera in diarylike video entries in which he criticized the Chinese government for quieting voices such as his.
“The department of justice called me again,” Chen said in a video posted days before he vanished. “Qingdao Police Station called me as well. They asked me where I was. They asked me to cooperate with their investigation.”
Chen gave his Twitter password to friends and family in case he went missing, and the most recent post to his page demanded the government allow Chen to speak with his family.
“Chinese citizen journalist Chen Qiushi has been missing for five days,” the tweet read. “Chen Qiushi’s family urgently needs to know when and where he was compulsorily quarantined or detained, where he is now, how healthy he is, etc.”
Xu XiaoDong, a friend of Chen’s, posted a video of text exchanges with Chen’s mother on Saturday night. In the video, Chen’s mother said officials told her Chen was quarantined, but she wasn’t being told why he wasn’t allowed to use his cellphone to contact her.
“Today, I’m going to say something very blunt: motherf—-ers, I’m not even afraid of death,” Chen said in another video. “You think I’m afraid of the Communist Party?”
Videos have circulated on Twitter that show Chinese officials spraying disinfectant on city streets, welding apartment buildings doors shut, and forcing citizens who refuse to wear masks into ambulances. A Wuhan funeral home worker said hundreds of bodies were being processed every day, and crematorium workers have alleged that the Chinese Communist Party is secretly cremating coronavirus victims.
Lawyer and citizen journalist Chen Qiushi vanished while documenting the coronavirus lockdown in Wuhan. He spent weeks filming patients and overrun hospitals pic.twitter.com/2oHU9UCtwn
— SCMP News (@SCMPNews) February 10, 2020
