Shanghai Human Rights Defender Chen Jianfang Still Under House Arrest Three Years After Her Release from Prison

(Rights Defense Network Information Center report) On October 21, 2026, this website learned that Shanghai human rights defender Chen Jianfang was still under house arrest by the authorities three years after her release from prison.

Ms. Chen Jianfang is a landless farmer who fought for land rights. She has long been active in rights defense and gradually became a representative for local victims of land expropriation and house demolition. She was arrested in 2019 and tortured while under residential surveillance at a designated location. During those two months under residential surveillance at a designated location, Chen Jianfang “barely slept.” In 2021, Ms. Chen Jianfang was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for subversion. She was tortured and abused in prison and lost 14 teeth. Photos of Chen Jianfang from before her most recent imprisonment show that her teeth were straight and intact. On October 21, 2023, she was released after completing her sentence. More than four years in hell left Chen Jianfang, then in the prime of life at nearly 50, with almost half her teeth missing. This is truly shocking. What brutal torture and persecution did Chen Jianfang endure?

After her release, Chen Jianfang was kept under close watch and forbidden to leave home; friends were also unable to visit her. Friends went to see her on several occasions, but guards shoved and obstructed them, threatened and intimidated them, and even took them to the police station. Chen Jianfang was forbidden to go to the hospital for medical care and was also forbidden to attend worship at church. She has remained under house arrest. The authorities should immediately lift the improper restrictions on Chen Jianfang and safeguard her freedom of movement.

Chen Jianfang’s biography: A well-known Shanghai human rights defender, born on January 23, 1970, and living at Room 101, No. 24, Lane 388, Hangrui Road, Pudong New Area, Shanghai. She received the 2018 “Cao Shunli Human Rights Defender Memorial Award.” Chen Jianfang began as a farmer fighting for land rights and has long been active in rights defense. More than ten years ago, her family’s land was illegally expropriated and seized by the Shanghai municipal government and property developers. Unable to obtain lawful and reasonable resettlement compensation, she began petitioning to defend her rights. Through years of rights defense and repression, Chen Jianfang gradually became a representative for local victims of land expropriation and house demolition.

In September 2013, Chen Jianfang and Ms. Cao Shunli were jointly invited to take part in a human rights training event held in Geneva that month and to observe a meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council. Chen Jianfang was stopped from leaving the country at Guangzhou Airport. On the same day, Ms. Cao Shunli was intercepted by police at Beijing Airport and forcibly disappeared. Police took Chen Jianfang back to Shanghai, detained and interrogated her, and kept her under close surveillance for many days.

Chen Jianfang’s human rights advocacy brought continuous retaliation from the authorities, including threats, beatings, and arbitrary detention.

At 8 a.m. on March 19, 2019, Chen Jianfang was secretly arrested by Shanghai police at her home. In June of that year, the Pudong New Area People’s Procuratorate in Shanghai approved her arrest on suspicion of “subverting state power.” She was accused of violating national law through activities including gathering with placards, holding banners, and making online statements. She was later prosecuted.

Because of illegal obstruction by the judicial authorities of the Chinese Communist Party, lawyers were unable to become involved in the case. Ms. Chen Jianfang is currently being held at the Shanghai Detention Center. The authorities have consistently refused to allow her legal representative to meet with her. As a result, details of the case have remained unclear. It was not until November 2022 that it became known that the Chinese Communist Party authorities had sentenced Chen Jianfang to four years and six months for “inciting subversion of state power,” with her sentence ending on October 21, 2023. She appealed the verdict. The appeal was later rejected, and the original verdict was upheld.

This website will continue to follow Ms. Chen Jianfang’s situation.