China: Human Rights Defender Shi Tingfu Dies in Prison

September 23, 2026 Comments Off

Death in detention raises concerns about access to medical care

(Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders — September 23, 2026) Human rights defender Shi Tingfu has died in prison, less than four months before his expected January 2027 release.

According to Chinese-language site Rights Defense Network (RDN), authorities at the Shahe Prison in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) informed Shi’s family on September 22 that Shi had suffered a heart attack. Shi, 67, was serving a three-year sentence for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” and was one of two recipients of the 2025 Cao Shunli Memorial Award for Human Rights Defenders.

Shi’s death comes one week after CHRD’s report “Swept Under the Rug” found that deprivation of adequate medical care was the most common form of torture among the cases examined. Drawing on 209 cases of alleged torture between 2016 and 2025, the report found that 35% described deprivation of adequate medical care, and 16 people died in detention as a result. The report also found no evidence that any official was prosecuted or disciplined for torturing a prisoner of conscience.

While CHRD cannot definitively confirm that Shi died as a result of inadequate medical care, prison authorities should immediately give Shi’s family full details of the circumstances of his death, including his medical records, information about any treatment he requested and received during imprisonment, and access to his body. Authorities should allow an independent investigation and prosecute anyone credibly implicated in Shi’s death.

Background

Shi worked at an electronics factory in Nanjing until he was laid off in the 1990s. He supported the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests and went on to become an outspoken advocate for freedom and democracy online, and carried out street protests to mark anniversaries of the Tiananmen Massacre, draw attention to official corruption, and show support for democracy in Taiwan. He took part in campaigns to free persecuted human rights lawyers and to support families of political prisoners. Authorities repeatedly arrested him, subjecting him to police brutality, arbitrary detention, and torture.

In January 2024, police from the XUAR detained Shi for passing information to overseas media about fruit farmers in Aral City who were lodging grievances against the paramilitary Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. Authorities denied him timely access to legal counsel by accusing him of “spreading and promoting terrorism and extremism,” though he was ultimately convicted of “picking quarrels.” In September 2025, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk identified this charge as overly broad and vague and called for its repeal. CHRD’s research shows that authorities routinely use the charge to silence those exercising or defending human rights.

Shi suffered from multiple health conditions, including high blood pressure, pneumonia, and asthma. When his lawyer met with him at the Aral City Detention Center in Aksu on April 11, 2024, the lawyer found that Shi’s already poor health had deteriorated further in custody. According to RDN, Shi’s family said he appeared to be in good condition and did not mention feeling unwell during a visit not long before his death, raising concerns about the circumstances of his sudden death.

For more information, please contact:

Sophie Richardson, Co-Executive Director, Chinese Human Rights Defenders, sophierichardson[at]nchrd.org, +1 917 721 7473

Shane Yi, Researcher, Chinese Human Rights Defenders, shaneyi[at]nchrd.org