Chen Qiushi (陈秋实), a lawyer turned journalist/activist known to have shared first-hand reports on the situation in Wuhan and Hong Kong, has been forcibly quarantined by the government, friends said.
Chen has been posting videos from Wuhan since January 24, the day the city was quarantined.
His removal comes less than 24 hours after the death of Dr. Li Wenliang, who has been subject to intimidation by the local government for disseminating information about the coronavirus epidemic.
Chen’s videos were censored on Chinese social networks but he continued to post on Twitter and YouTube, platforms censored in China.
His friends reported that several times a day they tried to get in touch with him because fearing he could be taken by the authorities at any time because of his reporting.
Chen stopped answering calls around 7 or 8 in the evening of February 6. At 2:18 am on February 7, the mother posted a video message on her twitter page where she reported that her son had disappeared.
陈秋实妈妈呼吁网友寻找秋实下落！陈秋实昨天说要去方舱医院，从晚上七八点到凌晨两点都处于失联状态。#WuhanCoronavirus #Wuhan #WuhanChina pic.twitter.com/FtrGjr495H
— 陈秋实（陳秋實） (@chenqiushi404) February 6, 2020
In the following hours, Xu Xiaodong, a famous wrestler, and Chen’s friend published a message from the mother saying that the son had been placed in a forced quarantine.
The news came from the Qingdao Public Security Bureau. When contacted by CNN both Wuhan city police and Qingdao city police said they had no information about Chen.
Who is Chen Qiushi
Chen was born in Daxing’anling prefecture in Heilongjiang. During Hong Kong protests against the extradition bill, he published numerous reports criticizing the government narrative depicting protesters as violent rioters.
After the videos were released, Chen had been arrested by the Beijing authorities, who canceled his Weibo accounts and videos.
After being banned on Chinese social media, Chen started publishing his videos on Youtube and Twitter. After learning about the epidemic, he went to Wuhan to document the situation and interview the locals, and to visit various hospitals, including Huoshenshan Hospital, which was still under construction at the time.
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