Xu Shuyao (徐述尧) — Person Profile
Xu Shuyao (徐述尧), a Falun Gong practitioner from Chengdu, Sichuan Province, was sentenced to two years and six months in prison with a 20,000-yuan fine on September 19, 2025, in a group trial of five elderly practitioners before the Qingyang District Court, according to Minghui.org and the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong. The Rights Defense Network’s (维权网) monthly political-prisoners report (Issue 131, August 31, 2026) lists her in its 2-year-6-month sentence band, confirming she remains in custody serving her term as of that date.
The case
Xu Shuyao, then about 61, was arrested on July 8, 2024, together with three other women — Ming Yue (明月, 62), Jing Guihua (敬桂花, 60), and Zhang Ruifang (张瑞芳, 69) — as they were leaving Renmin Park in Chengdu, the reports state. Officers from the Huangwa Street Police Station raided their homes and seized their valuables. The four women were held under residential surveillance at a secret location for about a month before being transferred to the Chengdu City Detention Center. A fifth person, Nie Zhongyong (聂中永, 78), originally from Guiyang and living displaced in Chengdu, was arrested at a bus stop on August 16, 2024, and held in the same detention center.
The five stood trial on September 19, 2025, before the Qingyang District Court, with Judge Li Bo presiding. According to reports of the hearing, the trial was marked by irregularities: Ming Yue’s mother had been approved to act as her non-lawyer defender but was stripped of that right at the last minute; Jing Guihua’s husband was permitted to defend her but was repeatedly reprimanded by the judge; and case files were made available to a defender only two days before the hearing, with copying prohibited. All five were convicted the same day: Zhang Ruifang received three years and eight months with a 30,000-yuan fine, Jing Guihua three years and two months with a 20,000-yuan fine, Xu Shuyao two years and six months with a 20,000-yuan fine, Nie Zhongyong two years and two months with a 10,000-yuan fine, and Ming Yue one year and eight months with a 10,000-yuan fine.
Status and evidentiary limits
As of August 31, 2026, the Rights Defense Network lists 徐述尧 among political prisoners and prisoners of conscience reported to be currently in custody. Her detention began in July 2024, so her term is estimated to end around January 2027 — an estimate, not a published fact. The formal criminal charge has not been publicly documented and is not stated here; the prison where she is serving her sentence is not publicly known. All procedural claims (raids, secret surveillance, trial irregularities) rest on practitioner and advocacy reporting (Minghui.org, WOIPFG) and are presented as reported, not as independently verified court findings; no court document, state-media account, or independent international-media corroboration was found.
Media Profile & Archive: 徐述尧 — Media Profile & Archive