Guo Xiaojun

Guo Xiaojun is a Chinese university lecturer and practitioner of Falun Gong who has twice been imprisoned by the government of the People's Republic of China on charges of "using a heretical organization to subvert the law". Amnesty International considers him a prisoner of conscience.

First arrest

At the time of his first arrest, Guo worked as a lecturer at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, in the Department of Electronics and Information Science. In 2001, he was arrested by the Chinese government for distributing Falun Gong literature, following the 1999 ban on the religion by the Chinese government. He was imprisoned in a labor camp until 2004.

International reaction Amnesty International designated Guo Xiaojun a "prisoner of conscience", "imprisoned solely because of his beliefs", and launched multiple international letter-writing campaigns on his behalf. Charles Tannock of the European Parliament raised his case with the EP Commission for Human Rights, which in turn called on the Chinese government "to respect the freedom of religious belief and practice". The United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Heiner Bielefeldt, submitted Guo's allegations to the Chinese authorities in his 2011 report, noting the "continued violations of freedom of religion or belief suffered by Falun Gong practitioners in China". The Chinese government declined to reply.