Chinese Human Rights Photographer Du Bin Sentenced to 1 Year and 6 Months

Du Bin, a Chinese photographer, documentary producer, and writer. (Song Bilong / Dajiyuan)

[People News] Du Bin, a well-known documentary producer, writer, and photojournalist in China, was taken away by Beijing police in mid-October last year on suspicion of 'picking quarrels and provoking trouble.' Recent updates indicate that he has been sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison.

Weiquanwang reported on September 1 that Du Bin was taken by Beijing police on October 15, 2025, and was immediately placed under criminal detention, followed by arrest and prosecution. A hearing for his case was held on June 24, 2026, at the Shunyi District Court in Beijing, but no verdict was delivered at that time. Before the verdict was announced, Du Bin's mother fell critically ill, and his request to return home to see her one last time was denied; she subsequently passed away.

On August 28, 2026, Du Bin was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison, with his sentence set to end on April 14, 2027.

Reports suggest that approximately 40 of Du Bin's tweets, which forwarded or commented on political affairs, were used as evidence in his conviction.

It has been reported that Du Bin was originally scheduled to travel to Japan on October 16 last year, but was taken away by Beijing police the day before his departure and detained at the Shunyi Detention Center in Beijing. The police detained him on suspicion of 'picking quarrels and provoking trouble'; on December 3 of the same year, his attorney successfully met with him, but the police refused to disclose any details of the case, citing 'case confidentiality.'

According to a report from the Minsheng Guancha website dated February 9, 2026, when Du Bin's case was referred to the procuratorate, he was charged with 'attacking national leaders.' The Beijing police did not provide specific details of the case to his family, citing 'state secrets' as the reason. However, legal experts have noted that this terminology is not an official charge under current criminal law; legal documents must align with specific provisions of the criminal code and clearly state the statutory charges. The specific allegations should be based on the statutory charges outlined by the prosecutorial authority in the indictment.

Du Bin began his career in journalism in Beijing, where he documented the lives and struggles of marginalized groups in China. In 2013, he produced a documentary titled 'The Woman on the Little Ghost's Head,' which exposed the torture occurring in the Masanjia Labor Camp, and published works such as 'Vaginal Coma: Testimonies of Torture Survivors from the Masanjia Women's Labor Camp,' revealing the torture and persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and petitioners in Liaoning Province's Masanjia Labor Camp. In June 2013, he was criminally detained by the Beijing police on suspicion of 'leaking state secrets' and was held in the Fengtai District Detention Center, from which he was released more than a month later.

In 2014, Du Bin published the first book related to the June Fourth Incident authored by a mainland Chinese writer, titled 'Tiananmen Massacre,' which garnered significant attention.

In 2015, he was awarded the 10th 'Lin Zhao Memorial Award' by the Independent Chinese PEN Center, which honors outstanding Chinese writers who have been deprived of their freedom and have excelled in their creative endeavors despite adversity.

In December 2020, Du Bin was detained again by the Beijing police on suspicion of provoking trouble and was released after more than a month. This time, he faced a potential sentence of one and a half years.
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