Thousands of Chinese netizens and scores of international rights groups paid tribute to Chinese whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang on Feb. 7, marking the one-year anniversary of his death from the virus that he had sought to warn other doctors about. Li, an ophthalmologist, was one of eight whistleblowers who warned on Chinese social media in late December 2019 about an “unknown pneumonia” outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Local authorities didn’t welcome the warning and only confirmed the outbreak after the doctors’ posts went viral. He was summoned on Jan. 3, 2020, to a police station, where he was reprimanded for “rumor-mongering” and forced to sign a “confession statement.” The document accused him of “disturbing social order” and “breaking the law” for his online activities. It warned that he would be “punished by the law” if he continued such “illegal activities.” On Feb. 1 last year, Li announced on his Weibo …