Zhang Qiuju (张秋菊) is a resident of Xinyang City, Henan Province, born in 1952, who has been detained repeatedly for practicing Falun Gong since 1999. She was arrested again in late June 2025, and in early 2026 she was reported to have been sentenced to one and a half years in prison by the Huangchuan County People’s Court. She is listed in an August 2026 mainland-China political-prisoner survey among those serving sentences of up to two years.
Latest case
According to a February 7, 2026 report by Minghui, an outlet that reports on the treatment of Falun Gong practitioners, Zhang was taken into custody in late June 2025 by domestic-security officers of the Shihe district public-security bureau in Xinyang, and was then held at the Xinyang No. 1 Detention Center. Minghui reported in January–February 2026 that she had been sentenced to one and a half years by the Huangchuan County court and that she had filed an appeal. The charge and the facility where she was held after sentencing were not reported. Her sentence was reported to run to December 2026.
Prior detentions
Minghui reports a history of repeated detentions and prison sentences for Zhang over more than two decades:
- 2000 — Minghui reports that she was taken by Shihe district domestic-security police to a remote rural location where she was tortured, and later sentenced (the sentence length was not specified in the report).
- 2009 — Minghui reports she was arrested at her home on June 10, 2009, later sentenced to three years, and transferred to the Xinxiang Women’s Prison in February 2010.
- 2015 — Minghui reports she was arrested on February 17, 2015 while distributing informational materials in Xinyang, tried by the Shihe district court in August 2015, sentenced to five years and six months, and transferred to the Xinxiang Women’s Prison in mid-November 2015.
- 2023 — Minghui reports she was detained on May 16, 2023, sentenced to one year, and that the sentence was upheld on appeal.
These accounts come from Minghui and have not been independently verified against court records.
Status
Zhang Qiuju was listed as reported in custody as of August 31, 2026, in the monthly political-prisoner survey of the Chinese-language rights-monitoring organization Rights Defense Network (维权网). Her reported one-and-a-half-year sentence term runs to December 2026. Her custody status beyond August 2026 is not directly verified, and no official court record or government statement about her case has been located.
This profile is based on a February 2026 Minghui report, a March 2026 record in the CHRD Prisoners of Conscience database, and the August 2026 Rights Defense Network political-prisoner survey. Where the source is an allegation or a practitioner-media account rather than a court or official record, it is attributed.
Sources
- Minghui, “河南信阳市张秋菊又遭诬判一年半” (February 7, 2026) — primary case record; legal characterizations in the article (“wrongful sentence,” “unlawful detention”) are the outlet’s attributions, not independently verified findings.
- Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) Prisoners of Conscience database — record for 张秋菊 / “Zhang Qiuju” (entered March 17, 2026) — independent second-source corroboration on all available anchors.
- Rights Defense Network (维权网), Issue 131 monthly report (August 31, 2026) — lists 张秋菊 in the “sentenced to up to two years” band.
Media archive: Zhang Qiuju (张秋菊) — Media Profile & Archive