Yang Zewei (online name Qiao Xinxin), initiator of the Firewall-Dismantling Movement and news media professional who was arrested across borders by CCP authorities and later sentenced to five years, spends his 40th birthday in prison

（Rights Defense Network Information Center report）On August 4, 2026， this outlet learned： Recently， Yang Zewei（online name Qiao Xinxin）， initiator of the Firewall-Dismantling Movement and news media professional who was arrested across borders by CCP authorities and later sentenced to five years， spent his 40th birthday in prison。

On May 31, 2023, shortly before the 34th anniversary of June 4， Yang Zewei was suddenly arrested across borders by Chinese police； it was later learned that, with the joint cooperation of a local Chinese community leader and the Laotian police， he was brutally abducted by Chinese police， after which he disappeared， and it was later confirmed that he had been taken back to Hengyang, Hunan， and detained at the Hengyang City Juvenile Detention Center in Hunan。 Yang Zewei was arrested by the Hengyang Municipal Procuratorate on July 7, 2023， on the charge of “inciting subversion of state power”。 It was later learned that he was sentenced to five years at first instance， and was transferred to Hunan Chishan Prison to serve his sentence in September 2024。 He has suffered torture in prison。

Yang Zewei’s résumé： Online name Qiao Xinxin， born on August 3, 1986， from Qidong County, Hengyang, Hunan Province， a Chinese citizen living in Laos， news media professional， former employee of a news media organization in Guangzhou， former Southeast Asia-based special correspondent for Radio Free Asia， initiator of China’s Firewall-Dismantling Movement（BanGFW）， writer and promoter of the “Firewall-Dismantling Handbook”， overseas pro-democracy activist， and Chinese political prisoner。

During university， he was deeply shocked after watching a three-hour film about the June 4 massacre， and from then on frequently came into contact with Americans， while working part-time at a U.S. cultural center in China， in order to understand and experience the falsity and evil of Chinese propaganda； after graduating from university， he worked as a journalist in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province， and thus actively took advantage of his profession to frequently attend cultural lectures at the U.S. Consulate General； he attended an observation event for the 2012 U.S. presidential election and read a Hong Kong English-language daily newspaper for a year， enabling him to learn more information at odds with official Chinese news reports， and deeply experience and understand the importance of truthful news reporting； because the CCP began building the Great Firewall in the late 1990s（Great Firewall， abbreviated as： GFW）， implementing an internet border censorship system， he deeply felt the difficulties caused by the firewall’s restrictions on his and Chinese people’s access to information when using mobile phones and computers in China；

He later moved to Laos to live， and learned ten languages； because China gradually became the world’s largest electronic prison， and, in the name of maintaining stability, was willing to spend a huge US$6 billion annually to build the Great Firewall， blocking 310,000 websites worldwide, including Google、Twitter、YouTube、BBC and CNN， causing Chinese people to be exposed only to brainwashing messages from the CCP， and because in recent years China has exported firewall technology to Russia、Iran、Myanmar and Cambodia, among other countries， forcing more than a billion people every day, for no reason, to hate the United States， oppose Japan and attack Taiwan， resulting in unending global conflicts， he consequently began promoting the emerging Firewall-Dismantling Movement（BanGFW） in multiple countries， calling on everyone to hold up signs and post messages；

In March 2023， he and other overseas pro-democracy activists launched the Firewall-Dismantling Movement， and released the “Firewall-Dismantling Handbook”， seeking support from all sectors of the international community， in the hope of achieving the demand that the principal figures responsible for establishing and operating the firewall under the CCP be referred to the International Criminal Court in The Hague；

On June 3, 2023, it was learned that, on May 31, 2023, shortly before the 34th anniversary of June 4， he was suddenly arrested across borders by Chinese police； it was later learned that, with the joint cooperation of a local Chinese community leader and the Laotian police， he was brutally abducted by Chinese police， after which he disappeared， and it was later confirmed that he had been taken back to Hengyang, Hunan， and detained at the Hengyang City Juvenile Detention Center in Hunan。 Yang Zewei was arrested by the Hengyang Municipal Procuratorate on July 7, 2023， on the charge of “inciting subversion of state power”。 On October 10, 2024, it was learned that he had been sentenced to five years at first instance， with his sentence running until： May 30, 2028， and that he had been transferred to Hunan Chishan Prison to serve his sentence in September 2024。 He has suffered torture in prison。

This outlet will continue to follow Yang Zewei’s situation。