Arrested Overseas Student Zhang Yadi Spends Her 23rd Birthday in Prison

（Rights Defense Network Information Center report）On July 7, 2026, this outlet learned that today is the 23rd birthday of Zhang Yadi, an overseas student who was arrested. She has long followed Tibetan culture and the rights of Tibetans, and has been committed to communication and dialogue between Han Chinese and Tibetans; on July 31, 2025, she was criminally detained by the authorities on suspicion of inciting secession. Today, she spent her birthday in prison.

Zhang Yadi: Known as Tara to her friends, female, born on July 7, 2003, currently 23 years old, an overseas youth activist; she has lived in France for an extended period. On July 5, 2025, Zhang Yadi flew back to China from abroad and arrived in Changsha, Hunan. On July 31, 2025, Zhang Yadi was taken away by the state security authorities. She was subsequently criminally detained by the Changsha Municipal State Security Bureau of Hunan Province on suspicion of “inciting secession,” and is currently being held at the detention center of the Changsha Municipal State Security Bureau. During this period, the lawyer entrusted by her family attempted to meet with her, but was refused on the grounds that the case “involves state secrets.”

She received a 2025 master's scholarship in anthropology from SOAS University of London in the United Kingdom and planned to enroll in September 2025, but to this day she has still been unable to set foot on campus.

This outlet will continue to follow Zhang Yadi’s situation.