Zhao Dexiu (赵德秀)
Zhao Dexiu (赵德秀) is a Falun Gong practitioner from Jieyang City, Guangdong Province. She is serving a three-year prison sentence imposed by the Jiedong District Court in late 2023 for her practice of Falun Gong.
The case
On the morning of June 19, 2023, police from the Chengbei Police Station arrested Ms. Zhao at her home after she was reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. Officers also took away her one-year-old granddaughter, who was in her care at the time. According to a February 2024 report by Minghui.org, a Falun Gong-affiliated outlet, her son and daughter-in-law returned home to find it empty and realized she had been taken only after reviewing their home surveillance footage — in which, they say, an officer can be seen turning the camera away.
The Jiedong District Court tried Ms. Zhao on November 24, 2023 and convicted her a few weeks later, handing down a three-year sentence. The same court had previously sentenced at least 19 other local Falun Gong practitioners since 2020.
Custody status
Ms. Zhao was still listed among in-custody prisoners in the Rights Defense Network’s Issue 131 monthly report on mainland China’s political and conscience prisoners (August 31, 2026), in the group sentenced to three years. Her current prison location has not been independently verified, and no record of an appeal has been found.
Sources
- Minghui.org, “Guangdong Grandmother Becomes 20th Falun Gong Practitioner Sentenced for Their Faith by Same Court Since 2020,” February 14, 2024. https://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2024/2/14/215865.html
- Rights Defense Network (维权网), Issue 131 monthly report on political and conscience prisoners in mainland China, August 31, 2026.
- Minghui.org, “2024 reported sentencing” list, entry #176: 赵德秀 (Zhao Dexiu), Guangdong, Jieyang, sentenced 2023, 3 years. https://d26w85p8e2o5ut.cloudfront.net/__mhen__/u/files/2025/0114/2024_reported_sentencing.pdf
Media profile & archive: Zhao Dexiu (赵德秀) — Media Profile & Archive