Famed human rights defender Ding Jiaxi, sentenced to 12 years, spends his 59th birthday in prison

(Rights Defense Network Information Center report) On August 17, 2026, our outlet learned that today, famed human rights defender Ding Jiaxi, who was sentenced to 12 years, spent his 59th birthday in prison. Mr. Ding Jiaxi has promoted the civil rights movement for many years. He has been sentenced twice, with his prison terms totaling 15 years and six months, and is currently serving his sentence at Jiangbei Prison in Hubei. According to his wife, Luo Shengchun, Ding Jiaxi continues to face restrictions in prison on outdoor exercise, purchasing books, correspondence with family members, and family telephone calls.

His mailing address: Prison Administration Section, Jiangbei Prison, Jingzhou, Hubei Province For Ding Jiaxi, Postal Code: 434110

Profile of Ding Jiaxi: Born on August 17, 1967, he is from Yichang, Hubei Province. He was formerly an engineer at the Shenyang Aviation Industry General Corporation and the Beijing Aviation Industry General Corporation. He previously served as a member of the Enterprise Restructuring Professional Committee of the Beijing Lawyers Association, a member of the Central Legal Affairs Committee of the China Democratic League, secretary-general of the Beihang Entrepreneurs Association, director of the Legal Committee of the Zhongguancun International Software Incubation Association, and other positions; former director of Dehong Law Firm; renowned human rights lawyer; one of the organizers and coordinators of Beijing's New Citizens Movement; and a Chinese political prisoner.

Since 2010, he had actively participated in promoting educational equality activities for the “local college entrance examination for children of migrant workers.” On December 9, 2012, he and Xu Zhiyong, Sun Hanhui, Wang Yonghong, and others issued an open letter to Xi Jinping, the newly appointed general secretary of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, and other senior Chinese Communist Party leaders, calling on 205 Chinese officials at or above the ministerial level, including Xi Jinping, to be the first to publicly disclose their assets. They also solicited more than 8,000 citizen signatures. These activities touched the Chinese Communist Party's fragile and sensitive nerves, and on April 17, 2013, Beijing police criminally detained him on suspicion of “illegal assembly” and held him at Beijing No. 3 Detention Center. On May 21 and November 4, 2013, Beijing police successively changed the charges against him to “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” and “the crime of gathering a crowd to disrupt social order.” On January 27, 2014, the Beijing authorities held a trial in his case on the charge of “gathering a crowd to disrupt social order.” However, in view of serious violations of the law during the trial that were clearly detrimental to the outcome of the case, he had no choice but to announce in court that he was terminating the engagement of his defense lawyers, forcing the court to announce an adjournment and issue its verdict on a later date. On April 18, 2014, after the Haidian District Court in Beijing retried the case, he was ultimately sentenced to three years and six months in prison for “the crime of gathering a crowd to disrupt order in a public place.” He was subsequently sent to Qianjin Prison at Chadian Station in Tianjin to serve his sentence. On October 16, 2016, he was released after completing his sentence.

In December 2019, he again attended a private gathering in Xiamen, Fujian Province, involving many dissidents from various parts of the country (later referred to by the authorities as the “Xiamen Gathering Case”). On December 26 of that year, he was taken away by Shandong police from a friend's home. He was subsequently placed under residential surveillance at a designated location by Yantai police as the principal suspect in the “Xiamen Gathering Case.” On June 19, 2020, police in Linshu County, Linyi City, formally arrested him on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power.” On August 5, 2021, the Linyi Municipal Procuratorate indicted him on the charge of subversion of state power and transferred the case to the Linyi Intermediate People's Court for trial. It is understood that during his secret detention, he was subjected to brutal torture, including being deprived of sleep for 73 consecutive days, being forced to sit on a “tiger bench” for eight consecutive days (an extreme form of torture), being subjected for six months to abuse involving only noise and 24-hour exposure to fluorescent light, being prevented from bathing and brushing his teeth for long periods, and even being deprived of the right to eat. On April 10, 2023, the Chinese Communist authorities sentenced him to 12 years in prison and deprived him of political rights for three years, with his sentence running until March 21, 2032. He had previously been detained at the Linshu County Detention Center in Shandong Province. He appealed the ruling, but his appeal was rejected on second instance and the original judgment was upheld. He has now been transferred to Jiangbei Prison in Hubei. Jiangbei Prison is located at 228 Jiangbei Avenue, Jiangling County, Jingzhou, Hubei Province, Postal Code 434110, telephone 0716-4781198. His rights in prison continue to be violated and deprived.

Our outlet will continue to follow Ding Jiaxi's conditions in prison.