Nanjing Gulou rights defender Wu Jufang goes missing after being intercepted by Beijing police

On October 20, 2026, this outlet learned that Wu Jufang, a rights defender from Gulou District, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, went missing after being intercepted by Beijing police.

Wu Jufang, a rights defender from Gulou District, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, began seeking redress after the Gulou District government illegally and violently demolished her legally owned home. A reconsideration decision by the Nanjing municipal government confirmed that the demolition was illegal and ordered the district government to negotiate compensation within a time limit, but the Gulou District government has failed to provide compensation in accordance with the law for 12 years.

Over the past 12 years, Wu Jufang has suffered inhumane attacks, retaliation, and persecution. The Gulou District government in Nanjing deployed police, subdistrict offices, and even organized crime to suppress and crack down on Wu Jufang’s lawful efforts to seek redress, seeking to use criminal methods to target the person rather than resolve the issue, with the aim of robbing and plundering her lawful property.

On October 17, 2026, Wu Jufang told people on WeChat that she was in Beijing and had already been warned and intercepted by Beijing police. Beijing police had notified the Nanjing Municipal Government’s Beijing Office, and Huang Bin (phonetic), from that office, was on his way with people and a vehicle. Wu Jufang subsequently lost contact.

According to reports, when Wu Jufang was in Beijing in 2020, security guards hired by the Nanjing Municipal Government’s Beijing Office and the Gulou District Public Security Bureau, working with them, kidnapped her, intercepted her to prevent her from petitioning, and unlawfully detained her. After Wu Jufang reported the incident to police, Beijing’s Fengtai Public Security Bureau opened a case for unlawful detention, but Nanjing police instead opened a criminal case against Wu Jufang to crack down on and retaliate against her. They then placed her under compulsory measures of release on bail pending trial, depriving her of her personal liberty. Whenever Wu Jufang left Nanjing, Nanjing police imposed administrative detention on her, citing alleged violations of supervision and management regulations. Wu Jufang has been detained more than 10 times.

On October 22, 2022, stability-maintenance personnel from Xinjiekou Subdistrict also maintained stability at the entrance to Wu Jufang’s residential compound and beat her, breaking six of her ribs. The physical evidence examination room of the Qixia Branch of the Nanjing Public Security Bureau determined that her injuries constituted a first-degree minor injury, but the police refused to open a case or hold anyone accountable.

A Nanjing rights defender surnamed Wang told this reporter that the Nanjing government’s crackdown, suppression, and persecution of rights defenders had reached the level of white terror. The police had become the government’s criminal enforcers, abusing their power without restraint and acting as accomplices and lackeys in the government’s robbery and plunder of people’s property. They had gone from household servants guarding the home to trusted aides currying favor and seeking credit, becoming a criminal organization with a legal license.