Prominent democracy activist and human rights defender Xu Lin, sentenced to 3 years and 9 months, spends his 62nd birthday in prison

(Rights Defense Network Information Center report) On April 9, 2026, this website learned that today, prominent democracy activist and human rights defender Xu Lin, who was sentenced to 3 years and 9 months, spent his 62nd birthday in prison.

Since 2010, Xu Lin has engaged in activities including holding signs and giving speeches in the streets of Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other places, and organising civic gatherings; in recent years, he has collaborated with Liu Sifang to create many songs about freedom, human rights and the rule of law; he has been arrested multiple times; on September 26, 2017, he was arrested and later sentenced to 3 years in prison for the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble; on May 16, 2024, he was arrested again and later sentenced to 3 years and 9 months. Mr Xu Lin was transferred to Guangdong Yingde Prison in September 2025. His sentence runs until February 15, 2028.

During Mr Xu Lin’s current imprisonment, the poor food and sanitary conditions have caused him to suffer severe malnutrition, and he has become extremely thin, weighing less than 100 jin; he suffers from pain in multiple parts of his body, including a breast lump and a perforated tooth. The Guangzhou Nansha Detention Centre, where he was previously held, not only failed to provide medical care but also deprived Xu Lin of his right to communicate. The Chinese Communist authorities have subjected Xu Lin to harsh torture. Xu Lin once said that he would fight for his rights and did not rule out staking his life in the struggle.

Biography of Xu Lin: Born on April 9, 1964, he is from Zhuzhou City, Hunan Province; a poet, philosophy researcher, Guangdong online writer, member of the Independent Chinese PEN Center, pro-democracy dissident and Chinese prisoner of conscience.

He began writing political articles and poetry and composing songs in the late 1990s. From 2010 onward, he actively engaged in activities including holding signs and giving speeches in the streets of Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other places, and organising civic gatherings. In recent years, through collaboration with rights activist Liu Sifang, he composed and produced multiple songs about freedom, human rights and the rule of law. These were widely loved and welcomed by supporters of freedom and democracy, prompting strong dissatisfaction from the Guangdong authorities and making him a target of stringent stability maintenance controls. He was illegally detained and secretly held multiple times.

In 2012, after he adapted and set to music a poem written by Zhejiang dissident Zhu Yufu, “It Is Time,” turning it into “Right Now,” which attracted widespread attention and reposting by internet users, Guangzhou police criminally detained him on April 4 of that year on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power.” He was held in the Panyu Detention Centre in Guangzhou. The authorities accused his alleged offence of being even more serious than holding signs in the streets of Guangzhou, saying it clearly showed an intention to incite the public to take to the streets and that the circumstances were extremely serious. On May 4, the Guangdong authorities changed this to secret residential surveillance at another location. During this period, his family repeatedly asked the authorities to provide written notice and the location where he was being held, but their requests were all refused. In August of the same year, he took part in the “Thousand-Person Civic Gathering at Lianhuashan Park” initiated by democracy activist Wang Dengchao, and planned to deliver a political speech at the event. Unexpectedly, he was kidnapped by the authorities beforehand and subsequently held in secret for three months.

In August 2015, the authorities were angered by his release of “Song of the Righteous Lawyers,” a song he composed about the “709” mass arrests. The company where he worked dismissed him under pressure from the authorities, and he was kidnapped and taken to Guangzhou, where he was placed under house arrest for one month.

On September 26, 2017, shortly before the convening of the Chinese Communist Party’s 19th National Congress, he was suddenly criminally detained by police from Guangzhou’s Nansha District while caring for his sick father in his hometown in Hunan, on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” His residence in Guangzhou was searched, and personal belongings including computers, mobile phones, books and notebooks were seized; the following day, his musical collaborator Liu Sifang was also taken away by police in Yichun City, Jiangxi Province, on the same grounds.

On November 2, 2017, he was formally arrested by the Nansha District People’s Procuratorate in Guangzhou on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” and held in the Nansha District Detention Centre in Guangzhou. According to reports, he was tortured while in custody. From October 5 to October 20, he was interrogated every day by police working in three shifts; he maintained a complete refusal to provide a confession. On December 7, 2018, the Nansha District Court in Guangzhou sentenced him to 3 years in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” with his sentence running until September 25, 2020. He previously served his sentence at Gaoming Prison in Foshan City, Dong Province.

Mr Xu Lin was again criminally detained by the Nansha District Branch of the Guangzhou Public Security Bureau on May 17, 2024, on suspicion of picking quarrels and provoking trouble. On June 22, 2024, it was learned that he had been formally arrested. He remained detained at the Guangzhou Nansha Detention Centre. His trial opened on March 18, 2025. Later, on August 8, 2025, the Xu Lin case was adjudicated at the Guangzhou Nansha District Court, which sentenced Xu Lin to 3 years and 9 months in prison, with his sentence running until February 15, 2028. On September 11, 2025, he was transferred to Guangdong Yingde Prison (No. 1, Road 4, Jinzi Mountain Avenue North, Yingde City, Guangdong Province).

This website will continue to follow Mr Xu Lin’s situation.