Community Report – Uyghur Times | Fairfax, Virginia
In a powerful show of unity and resilience, three Uyghur organizations — Uyghur Academy US, Uyghur American Association (@Uyghur_American), and Uyghur Times (@uytimes) — jointly hosted the launch of Rushan Abbas’s new book, accompanied by an in-depth panel discussion at the Uyghur Center in Fairfax, Virginia. The event brought together Uyghur leaders, intellectuals, and community members to reflect on the past, confront the present, and reaffirm their shared commitment to freedom.
During the event, Rushan Abbas, a leading Uyghur-American activist and Executive Director of Campaign for Uyghurs, shared deeply personal stories that inspired her book. She spoke about the meaning of being “unbroken” in the face of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) transnational repression, emphasizing that the Uyghur cause is not just a national struggle, but a universal one — for all who value freedom and human dignity.
Tahir Imin, founder of Uyghur Times, moderated the panel and guided an emotional and wide-ranging conversation with Abbas. The conversations covered topics of her firsthand experiences in East Turkistan before exile, her father’s memoir documenting the trauma of the Cultural Revolution, and the little-known secret death of Uyghur student leader Mijit Emet. The discussion also touched on the Uyghur student movement of the 1980s, her work at Guantánamo Bay aiding wrongfully detained Uyghurs, and her relentless advocacy on behalf of her imprisoned sister, Dr. Gulshan Abbas, and the Uyghur people.
This event followed the official book launch at the Hudson Institute in June, where a distinguished panel — including members of the U.S. Congress, the Hudson Institute, and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) — welcomed Abbas’s book as a critical voice in global human rights advocacy.
In her book, Abbas not only documents the PRC’s current brutal policies — supported by extensive reporting from Uyghur human rights groups — but also illuminates neglected historical atrocities, including:
- The systematic persecution of Uyghur intellectuals during the Cultural Revolution;
- The mass starvation of Uyghur civilians in Bay County, based on the recollections of her father, Abbas Burhan;
- The CCP’s punishment of her family, particularly her father, in retaliation for her advocacy from the United States.
The book weaves these untold histories with Abbas’s personal journey, offering both a call to action and a testimony of survival.
Following the panel, attendees showed great interest in purchasing the book and engaging in one-on-one conversations with Abbas, eager to explore the deeper personal and historical insights raised during the event.
Among those in attendance were many prominent figures in the Uyghur community and diaspora, including:
- Rishat Abbas, Rushan Abbas’s brother and President of Uyghur Academy
- Elfidar Ablikim, President of the Uyghur American Association
- Omer Kanat, Executive Director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project
- Alim Seytoff, Director of Radio Free Asia’s Uyghur Service
- Tahir Hamut Izgil, poet and author
- Mustafa Aksu, Memetjan Jume, Zubayda Shamshidin, and Ilshat Hesen, among others
Rushan Abbas, a former U.S. Department of Defense contractor, has emerged as one of the most influential Uyghur voices on the global stage. As Executive Director of Campaign for Uyghurs, her work has twice led to Nobel Peace Prize nominations (2022–2025) and earned her the World Democracy Tribute Award. She has testified before the U.S. Congress, European Parliament, and the United Nations, consistently advocating for the rights, dignity, and survival of the Uyghur people.
