Alert: Chinese authorities denying activists access to adequate medical treatment
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Activists denied care while imprisoned and upon release
(Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders— January 27, 2026) Human rights activists wrongfully detained by Chinese authorities are being denied adequate medical care in prison and then blocked from receiving treatment after they are released.
Yang Li, a land rights activist from Jiangsu, has been repeatedly blocked from receiving medical treatment in Beijing after being released from prison on December 30, 2025. She had been tortured and denied access to adequate treatment for late stage kidney disease while serving a 15-month prison sentence on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” at Changzhou Detention Center in Jiangsu.
Upon her release, she had travelled to Beijing on January 12 and 18 to attend dialysis appointments at Peking University First Hospital, accompanied by her father, but Beijing police detained and then handed them over to officers from Jintan District in Changzhou to be returned to Jiangsu. On January 24, police blocked Yang from getting on a train to Beijing to attend another scheduled appointment.
In August 2025, Hubei police seized activist Yin Xu’an in Beijing as he was getting into an ambulance for medical treatment for several illnesses including hypertension and coronary heart disease. They escorted him back to Daye City and have provided no information about his current whereabouts. Lawyers hired by his family to ascertain more information have been stonewalled by authorities.
In November 2023, Yin was released from Huangzhou Prison after serving a 4.5-year prison sentence for “picking quarrels.” His health in prison deteriorated because of torture and denied treatment for conditions including a stroke which left him unable to speak clearly and walk. In 2024, local authorities forcibly disappeared him for 14 months until April 2025.
Denying medical treatment to individuals in custody constitutes a life-threatening form of torture. Authorities’ failure or refusal to provide adequate medical care for detainees violates Chinese law and multiple international standards, including the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which China ratified in 1988. The refusal to allow individuals released from custodial sentences freedom of movement and the right to health is a violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Chinese authorities should immediately end all extralegal measures taken to prevent activists from receiving medical treatment after their release from prison and investigate allegations of torture and denied medical care in custody.
For more information, please contact:
Sophie Richardson, Co-Executive Director, Chinese Human Rights Defenders,
sophierichardson[at]nchrd.org, +1 917 721 7473
Angeli Datt, Research and Advocacy Coordinator, Chinese Human Rights Defenders,
angelidatt[at]nchrd.org, +1 934 444 6155
Shane Yi, Researcher, Chinese Human Rights Defenders, shaneyi[at]nchrd.org