CFU PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 10, 2026
Contact: contact@campaignforuyghurs.org
CFU Marks Eight Years of Dr. Gulshan Abbas’s Unjust Imprisonment
WASHINGTON, D.C.– Campaign for Uyghurs (CFU) marks eight years since the enforced disappearance and unjust imprisonment of Dr. Gulshan Abbas, sister of CFU Founder and Executive Director Rushan Abbas. Now, eight years after she was taken, Dr. Abbas remains separated from her family and imprisoned under a 20-year sentence imposed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with a secret sham trial.
Dr. Abbas, a retired medical doctor, was forcibly disappeared in September 2018, days after her sister, Rushan Abbas, spoke publicly about the CCP’s mass detention and persecution of Uyghurs at the Hudson Institute in Washington.D.C. Her family was given no information about her whereabouts for more than two years. In December 2020, Chinese authorities finally acknowledged that she had been secretly sentenced to 20 years in prison on fabricated charges. Her detention has become one of the clearest examples of the CCP’s use of kin punishment and transnational repression to silence Uyghurs abroad by targeting their family members.
Dr. Abbas turned 64 this June, marking another birthday separated from her children, grandchildren, and loved ones. Her family continues to demand her immediate release and remains deeply concerned about her health and well-being.
International calls for Dr. Abbas’s freedom have continued to grow. In May 2026, the U.S. Senate unanimously agreed to a bipartisan resolution calling for her release and urging that her case be prioritized during high-level engagement with Chinese leadership. The U.S. House of Representatives also passed a resolution naming Dr. Abbas among political prisoners whose freedom should be prioritized. In June, a motion was introduced in the Canadian Parliament by Senator Housakos calling for her immediate release. These efforts build on years of advocacy by lawmakers, governments, UN experts, human rights organizations, and supporters around the world.
“As each year passes, the sadness becomes heavier. Now eight years of Gulshan’s life and time with family have been stolen simply because I dared to speak out against the CCP’s persecution of our people,” said Rushan Abbas. “Every additional day she remains imprisoned is another day of injustice that makes me fight harder to expose the CCP’s crimes against my people. With Xi Jinping expected to meet President Trump soon, it will be a critical opportunity for the United States to raise Gulshan’s case directly and press for her immediate release. The international community must use every opportunity and mechanism available to demand her freedom and the freedom of all innocent Uyghurs unjustly imprisoned.”
Dr. Abbas’s case represents far more than the persecution of one family. Across the Uyghur homeland, countless families have been separated through arbitrary detention, imprisonment, forced labor, and other policies targeting Uyghur identity, religion, and culture. Governments engaging with Beijing must continue raising individual political prisoner cases and demand proof of life, family communication, independent medical care, and accountability for arbitrary detention.
CFU calls on governments and international institutions to increase pressure on the Chinese government for the immediate and unconditional release of Dr. Gulshan Abbas and all unjustly imprisoned Uyghurs.