By Uyghur Times Editorial | June 12, 2025
Today marks the 63rd birthday of Dr. Gulshan Abbas — a birthday she should be celebrating in peace and dignity. Instead, it is the seventh consecutive year she is spending behind bars in one of China’s infamous prisons. Her only so-called “crime”? Being the sister of a prominent Uyghur-American human rights advocate, Rushan Abbas.
Dr. Abbas is not a political figure. She is a retired medical doctor who left her career early due to chronic health issues. Yet the Chinese government, under its vast campaign of repression and transnational intimidation, targeted her as a tool of retaliation — punishing family members of outspoken Uyghurs abroad. Her imprisonment is a chilling example of the Chinese Communist Party’s willingness to silence dissent by reaching beyond its borders.
The CCP’s systemic campaign against the Uyghur people is no longer confined to the Uyghur homeland. It haunts those in exile, weaponizing family ties and collective punishment. Dr. Gulshan Abbas is among many innocent Uyghurs paying the price for their relatives’ courage to speak up for human rights.
On this painful milestone, we echo Rushan Abbas’s call to action: To those who stand for justice and human dignity — speak up. Share her story. Demand her release. Every voice raised against this injustice helps pierce the silence that oppressive regimes depend on.
Gulshan Abbas deserves more than international sympathy — she deserves her freedom. And justice demands we don’t wait another birthday to demand it.
