cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/42052864

September 10, 2025, Campaign for Uyghurs (CFU) observes seven years since the enforced disappearance and unjust imprisonment of Dr. Gulshan Abbas, sister of CFU Executive Director Rushan Abbas and Dr. Rishat Abbas, President of Uyghur Academy International. Her case stands as a stark reminder of the Chinese regime’s use of kin punishment and transnational repression amidst the ongoing Uyghur genocide.

Dr. Gulshan Abbas’s disappearance came just days after her sister, Rushan Abbas, spoke publicly at a Hudson Institute panel about the Chinese government’s persecution of Uyghurs in September 2018. Her family had no knowledge of her whereabouts until December 2020, when authorities admitted that Dr. Abbas had been secretly sentenced to 20 years in prison on baseless charges of “terrorism.” Now entering her seventh year of unjust imprisonment, concerns grow about her health conditions, as she suffers from serious medical conditions, including high blood pressure. Denied access to proper medical care and contact with her family, Gulshan’s imprisonment is both an act of retaliation against her siblings’ advocacy and a violation of international law.

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