Xu Weidong (徐卫东) — Person Profile
Xu Weidong (徐卫东) is a former metallurgical engineer from Chengdu, Sichuan Province. In March 2025 he was sentenced to five years in prison in connection with his practice of Falun Gong — a conviction his family learned of only on April 21, 2025, when the court confirmed the March 25 ruling date by phone and declined to provide a copy of the verdict. The Rights Defense Network’s (维权网) monthly political-prisoners report (Issue 131, August 31, 2026) lists him in its 5-year-sentence band, confirming he remains in custody serving his term as of that date.
The case
Xu, then 62, was arrested at his home on November 26, 2023, together with his wife, Sun Fenghua (孙凤华), by officers of the Liucheng Police Station of the Wenjiang District Public Security Bureau. Officers confiscated his computer, printer, and Falun Gong books, according to reports of the case. Sun was released on December 7, 2023. Xu was first placed under administrative detention and then switched within hours to criminal detention on the grounds that he was a repeat offender: he had previously served a ten-year prison term, from May 2002 to May 2012, for intercepting television signals to broadcast programs about Falun Gong, serving time at Guangyuan Prison and later Wumaping Prison.
The case was submitted to the Wenjiang District Procuratorate in December 2023, and prosecutor Liu Xu issued a formal arrest warrant; reporting says Xu’s wife was asked to sign the warrant and was pressed to change its date from December 21 back to November 26. Prosecutor Liu indicted Xu in November 2024. In April 2025, Xu’s wife was denied a visit at the Chengdu City Detention Center, where guards described his case as classified; she was told he was to be transferred to Wumaping Prison in Leshan, Sichuan.
Earlier targeting
From May 2002 to May 2012 Xu served a ten-year prison term for intercepting television signals to broadcast programs about Falun Gong, serving time at Guangyuan Prison (2002–2010) and Wumaping Prison (2010–2012), per case reporting.
Status and evidentiary limits
As of August 31, 2026, the Rights Defense Network’s Issue 131 monthly report lists 徐卫东 among prisoners serving five-year sentences, recording him as in custody. The formal criminal statute behind the sentence has not been publicly documented. The transfer to Wumaping Prison was reported by detention-center guards in April 2025 and is not independently confirmed; the current facility is unverified. Procedural claims rest on practitioner and advocacy reporting (Minghui.org; World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong) and are presented as reported, not as independently verified court findings. No PRC official or state-media coverage of this case has been found.
Media Profile & Archive: 徐卫东 — Media Profile & Archive