Henan Province’s Xixian Rights Defender Xing Wangli Blindfolded and Secretly Transferred to Sanmenxia Prison for Forced Labor

(Rights Defense Network Information Center report) On September 16, 2026, this outlet learned that on August 20, 2026, Xing Wangli was blindfolded and secretly transferred from Zhumadian Prison to Sanmenxia Prison, where he was forced to perform excessively strenuous labor. When his family visited him, Xing Wangli was mentally and physically exhausted.

According to Xing Wangli’s son, Xing Jian: When Xing Wangli was secretly transferred from Zhumadian Prison, prison authorities did not notify his family. It was not until nearly ten days after the transfer that his family learned of it through unofficial channels. They immediately demanded that Zhumadian Prison produce him, only to be told that he had been transferred to Sanmenxia Prison.

On September 15, 2026, Xing Wangli’s wife, Xu Jincui, went to Sanmenxia Prison to visit Xing Wangli and found him physically and mentally exhausted, looking like a walking corpse, without any strength. Xu Jincui asked him how he was eating in prison, whether anyone was bullying him, and whether he was doing labor. He seemed unwilling to answer. She only saw him force a smile and say, “The working hours are long, but it is good to do some labor,” at which point a prison guard interrupted him. That afternoon, Xu Jincui reported to the prison administration section: “Xing Wangli’s right hand is disabled. In 2016, while Xing Wangli was detained at the Xixian Detention Center, he was beaten and suffered a comminuted skull fracture. Half of his skull is made of titanium alloy, and he cannot perform heavy physical labor. This could cost him his life.” A staff member of the prison administration section said: “Anyone who enters this prison must participate in labor.”

According to another person who had served time at Sanmenxia Prison, the prison mainly engages in garment production, and prison guards assign work tasks to inmates. The person also said that inmates who were unable to complete their tasks would be shocked with electric batons, adding that his experience serving more than a year at Sanmenxia Prison still leaves him terrified to this day.

During her time at the prison, Xu Jincui saw that most of the prison guards were young men, as well as dozens of foremen (not prison employees) who entered the prison from outside to inspect the garment production.

This outlet learned through a search of the Qichacha website that Sanmenxia Prison has an enterprise under its authority called “Sanmenxia Black Goat Cement Co., Ltd.” It was established on October 24, 2003, and on May 17, 2013, the company’s name was changed to “Sanmenxia Swan Garments Co., Ltd.” Its legal representative is Wang Chuan’en, the prison warden.

Biography of Xing Wangli: Born on March 24, 1971, he is from Xixian County, Xinyang City, Henan Province, and is a rights defender.

Since 2002, after his seven-year-old son Xing Jian (then named Xing Lulu) was struck by a vehicle belonging to the Xinyang Cotton and Hemp Company, suffering a ruptured liver and a fracture of his right leg and nearly dying, local authorities handled the matter unlawfully and privately divided the compensation money, prompting his entire family to launch a rights-defense campaign. Thereafter, Xing Wangli not only sought to defend his own family’s rights, but gradually began helping others defend their rights as well, accumulating more than 20 years of rights-defense experience. During the long-term rights-defense process, his family members were repeatedly suppressed and subjected to illegal judicial persecution by the authorities. Family members were illegally sentenced and imprisoned for a cumulative total of 16 years; Xing Wangli himself was subjected to reeducation through labor and imprisonment for a cumulative total of 10 years and eight months; the family’s total prison time reached 26 years and eight months (not including periods of administrative detention, illegal detention, house arrest, criminal detention, or residential surveillance).

On September 24, 2004, Xing Wangli was sentenced by the Xixian Public Security Bureau to one year of reeducation through labor for seeking medical expenses and compensation for his son.

During the Two Sessions in 2012, Xing Wangli went to the township government (now: Huaihe Subdistrict Office, Xixian County) to demand a solution to the problem of water for production, but without success. When passing the Chengjiao Township Police Station in Xixian County (now: Huaihe Subdistrict Police Station, Xixian County), he saw that Xixian petitioner Zhou Junling had been illegally detained there for several days by Wang Liang, the director at the time. He immediately photographed this with the camera he was carrying. On the night of March 7, Wang Liang brought two uniformed police officers to Xing Wangli’s home to demand the photographs, but was refused. Wang Liang then gathered more than 20 police officers to surround the Xing family’s home and take Xing away. Xing Wangli was subsequently accused of extorting the Chengjiao Township government (which in 2011 had been forced to provide Xing Wangli with 10,000 yuan in aid). Worried that her husband would be subjected to torture and forced confession by Wang Liang and others, Xing Wangli’s wife Xu Jincui went to the police station with their son Xing Jian to learn what had happened. She was accused of obstructing official duties, sentenced to two years and six months, and imprisoned at the Zhongmu County Women’s Prison in Henan Province. Xing Wangli was ultimately sentenced to two years for “extorting the township government.” While detained at the Xixian Detention Center, he suffered inhumane treatment, including hunger strikes and shackling, and endured physical and mental torment. The Xinyang Intermediate People’s Court twice overturned the original judgment and remanded the case for retrial on the grounds that the facts were unclear and the evidence insufficient. Ultimately, because the facts were unclear and the evidence insufficient, the Xixian Procuratorate withdrew the prosecution and declined to prosecute.

On March 7, 2014, after being detained for two years, Xing Wangli was released after completing his sentence. However, on the day of his release, the Xixian Public Security Bureau verbally announced that it was placing him under residential surveillance. It was not until August 6 of that year that the Xixian Public Security Bureau issued a written “Decision on Residential Surveillance at a Designated Residence,” stating that it had been effective from March 7, 2014.

Xing Wangli was accused of “extorting the township government.” The case was twice overturned and remanded for retrial by the Xinyang Intermediate People’s Court on the grounds of “unclear facts and insufficient evidence.” Ultimately, the Xixian People’s Procuratorate withdrew the prosecution. The facts of the case thus proved that Xing Wangli had committed no crime, but he had already been effectively detained at the detention center for two years.

In April 2015, Xixian rights petitioner Feng Guohui died mysteriously in a rented room at the Xixian agricultural market while petitioning. The incident was full of suspicious circumstances and deeply shocked local petitioners. Xing Wangli and local petitioners Yu Jun and Zhou Junling, among others, immediately issued public appeals online calling on the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Ministry of Public Security, and other superior authorities to intervene and investigate, and demanding that the truth of the death be established. This angered the local authorities. On May 25 of the same year, Xing Wangli was criminally detained by Xixian police on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” The police’s accusations against him even included “urinating on the name plaque of the Xixian Court” and publicly protesting the “unfair judgments” issued by the court against his daughter Xing Mei, his mother Xing Jiaying, and his mother-in-law He Zeying—content that was highly retaliatory in nature. On June 4, Xing Wangli was formally arrested and detained at the Xixian Detention Center in Xinyang City. On August 26, 2016, his case was heard at the Xixian Court in Xinyang City, Henan Province, and he was sentenced at first instance to four years and six months for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” He immediately appealed. Unexpectedly, the next day he nearly died, while prison authorities notified his family only 10 hours after the incident, saying that he had attempted to hang himself with a paper rope from the window of his cell and that when fellow inmates rescued him, he landed headfirst, causing “a contusion and laceration of the right frontotemporal lobe, an occipital bone fracture, a left parietal epidural hematoma, contusions of the lower lobes of both lungs, bilateral pleural effusion, and hydrocephalus.” Because he was not out of danger, his family was not allowed to visit him. It was learned that during his detention at the detention center, he was repeatedly subjected to torture and prison abuse. The Xinyang Intermediate People’s Court later issued a second-instance ruling upholding the original sentence of four years and six months (in view of the withdrawal of the prosecution against Xing Wangli for “extorting the township government,” and the fact that Xing Wangli had already been detained for two years, the authorities decided to offset two years, leaving two years and six months to be served). He had previously served time at the Fourth Prison of Henan Province (Luoyang Prison).

After being released upon completion of his sentence on November 24, 2017, he and his wife sought to defend their rights after alleging that Li Xuechao, then secretary of the Chengjiao Township Party Committee in Xixian County; Lu Xinping, deputy director of the Public Security Bureau; and Qiu Jihong of the traffic police brigade had embezzled compensation money from their son’s traffic accident. They were imprisoned several times and subjected to severe persecution by the authorities. Both spouses suffered from illnesses and, having no alternative, went to Beijing to seek medical treatment at the end of February 2018. However, as soon as they got off the train at Beijing Railway Station, they were abducted, repatriated, and detained by local government petition-interception personnel. They were subsequently wrongfully sentenced by the Xixian Court in Xinyang City, Henan Province, to two years and three months in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” based on “3,000 yuan in hardship relief” as the basis for conviction. He appealed, but the Xinyang Intermediate People’s Court upheld the original judgment on appeal, and he was sent to Xinyang Prison in Henan Province to serve his sentence. He was released after completing his sentence on May 26, 2020.

On April 20, 2021, because the couple went to Lingshan Town, Luoshan County, Henan Province, to visit human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong, who had been under house arrest by the authorities for more than two years, and then went to a post office in Dongcheng District, Beijing, on April 27 to mail a letter, they were questioned and detained by officers from the Qianmen Police Station in Beijing. They were subsequently placed under 15 days of administrative detention by police from their hometown of Xixian County. On May 12 of the same year, Xixian police changed this to criminal detention on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” On June 18 of the same year, the Xixian Procuratorate changed the charge and formally arrested him on suspicion of “defamation,” accusing him of “spreading false information and defaming multiple public officials through ‘A Letter of Appeal for Help to People from All Sectors of Society and Netizens,’ causing a negative social impact,” and stating that his words and actions had violated relevant government laws and that he should be arrested. On April 21, 2022, the Xixian Court in Xinyang City, Henan Province, sentenced him at first instance to two years and 11 months in prison for “defamation,” with his sentence ending on April 11, 2024. He appealed, but a second-instance ruling upheld the original judgment, with his sentence ending on April 11, 2024. He had previously served time at Xinyang Prison in Henan Province.

On the morning of February 18, 2025, when Xixian petitioner Yu Jun and several local petitioners were preparing to leave Xing Wangli’s home, elderly Yu Jun was violently intercepted by local government personnel in front of the Xing family’s home and roughly shoved to the ground. Xing Wangli was present at the time. He used his mobile phone to record the entire process and subsequently called the Xixian Public Security Bureau to report it.

However, after making the report in accordance with the law, Xing Wangli himself was criminally detained that same day by the public security brigade of the Xixian Public Security Bureau on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” He was subsequently formally arrested and transferred for prosecution. On April 27, 2025, a lawyer was allowed to meet with him for the first time. At 9 a.m. on May 13, 2025, the case was heard for the first time at the Xixian Court. In court, the defense lawyer played an audio recording of an alleged telephone conversation between Xing Wangli’s wife, Xu Jincui, and Hong Jie, the alleged victim and secretary of the Party branch of Hongzhuang Community, Huaihe Subdistrict Office, Xixian County. Hong Jie swore that he had not reported the matter to the public security authorities and said, “It was Chen Wanyi of the police who cooked this up.” An audio recording of a conversation with another alleged victim, Guan Min, also denied that she had reported the matter. Since the case had no victim, no report record, and no case-filing record, the court collegial panel changed the hearing to a “pretrial conference.”

On May 26, 2025, Cui Shulin, the prosecutor of the Xixian Procuratorate and the public prosecutor in the case, instructed Pan Haojie, a police officer from the Huaihe Police Station of the Xixian Public Security Bureau, to conduct an additional interview with Hong Jie. During the questioning, methods including guidance, suggestion, intimidation, and inducement were used to force him to make statements inconsistent with the facts.

At 3:30 p.m. on July 18, 2025, the case against Xing Wangli on suspicion of picking quarrels and provoking trouble was heard again at the Xixian Court. The case had neither a victim nor a witness, but prosecutor Cui Shulin insisted on prosecuting. In order to ensure the hearing of other cases, the court forcibly moved the trial date forward. Despite insufficient evidence, the absence of reporting and case-filing records, illegal evidence collection, and the absence of the alleged witnesses and victim, prosecutor Cui Shulin still insisted on recommending a sentence of four years and six months to five years.

It was learned at the end of August 2025 that Judge Xu Weicheng of the Xixian Court had sentenced Xing Wangli to three years in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”

On December 3, 2025, Zhumadian Prison in Henan Province (also known as Yunan Prison) called Xing Wangli’s wife, Xu Jincui, to notify her that Xing Wangli had been sent to that prison to serve his sentence.

On August 20, 2026, Xing Wangli was secretly transferred from Zhumadian Prison to Sanmenxia Prison to serve his sentence. His sentence ends on February 17, 2028.

This outlet will continue to follow Xing Wangli’s conditions in prison.

Related links:

Henan human rights defender Xing Wangli, sentenced to three years, transferred to Zhumadian Prison in Henan Province (also known as Yunan Prison) to serve his sentencehttps://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2025/12/3_47.html

Files on a police officer accused of misconduct at the Xixian Public Security Bureau in Xinyang City, Henan Province, China — Chen Wanyihttps://www.tnttimes.net/opinions/18573.html

Investigation report on alleged illegal and criminal conduct by Cui Shulin, prosecutor at the Xixian Procuratorate and principal person responsible for the illegal prosecution in the 2025 case against Henan Province, Xinyang City, Xixian County rights defender Xing Wangli for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”https://www.tnttimes.net/opinions/16785.html

Investigation report on alleged illegal and criminal conduct by Xu Weicheng, a level-three judge of the Criminal Division of the Xixian Court in Xinyang City, Henan Province, China (with Xu Weicheng’s personal file)https://www.tnttimes.net/opinions/30350.html