The case
Wang Haiyan (王海燕), born 1955, is a Falun Gong practitioner living in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, according to the Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) Prisoners of Conscience Database and the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG).
Seizure and trial
On March 8, 2024, Wang was visiting her mother’s home in Baiyin City when she was seized by officers of the Jingyuan County Public Security Bureau after speaking with members of the public about Falun Gong, according to WOIPFG. She was taken to the Baiyin District Detention Center. Her younger sister and her son were seized the same day and later released on bail after police confirmed they did not practice Falun Gong.
Wang’s case was brought before the Baiyin District Procuratorate and the Baiyin District Court. The court tried her twice — on November 6, 2024 and January 7, 2025 — and, according to WOIPFG, handcuffed and shackled her during the proceedings and kept her hands cuffed behind her back during breaks. These are the organization’s attributed accounts.
Sentence and appeal
In September 2025, the Baiyin District Court sentenced Wang to four years in prison, according to WOIPFG; the CHRD database records the same four-year sentence with a term running to March 2027. Wang appealed, and the Baiyin Intermediate Court rejected the appeal and upheld the sentence (the CHRD database dates the appellate decision to December 2025).
Wang is held at the Gansu Provincial Women’s Prison, where both sources list her as currently imprisoned. The charge was not stated in either record.
Status and evidentiary limits
Wang Haiyan is classified as a current prisoner. The Rights Defense Network’s August 31, 2026 monthly report (Issue 131) lists 王海燕 among the prisoners of conscience in custody, in the “sentenced to 4 years” group — consistent with the four-year term in both the WOIPFG notice and the CHRD record. Her exact charge and her current condition are not confirmed in the available sources; no further detail is inferred. This profile does not merge Wang Haiyan with any other person of the same name.
Further reading
The full documented case record for Wang Haiyan is preserved in a companion media archive, which gathers the media and documentary records, source chronology, and evidentiary limitations in one place.