China: Authorities must provide information on imprisoned Uyghur doctor

GENEVA (19 June 2024) – A UN expert today called on the Chinese authorities to provide information on the status of imprisoned Uyghur doctor Gulshan Abbas, believed to be serving a 20-year sentence since 2019 on terrorism-related charges.

“Nearly six years after her detention, Dr Abbas’ family members still do not have information on where she is being imprisoned, the evidence used to convict her, or most worryingly of all, her health condition,” said Mary Lawlor, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders. “I appeal to the Chinese authorities to comply with its international human rights obligations and at least furnish Dr Abbas’ family with this information.”

Dr Abbas, who reportedly has a number of health complications, was detained in September 2018 but no information was provided to her family regarding her detention, the charges against her, her trial or the prison in which she is being held. Official confirmation of the charges on which she was sentenced was only provided in December 2020 by a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson who stated in response to a question at a press conference that Dr Abbas had been jailed for “crimes of participating in a terrorist organisation, aiding terrorist activities and assembling crowds to disrupt social order”.

Dr Abbas, who was not engaged in any political or human rights activities, is the sister of US-based Uyghur human rights defender Rushan Abbas. Dr Abbas was detained six days after her sister criticised the alleged persecution of the Uyghur population in China while speaking at a public event in Washington D.C.

“I am appalled by the continued imprisonment of Gulshan Abbas in apparent retaliation for her sister’s criticism of the Chinese authorities’ treatment of Uyghurs,” the Special Rapporteur said. 

The expert noted that the 2022 Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Assessment of human rights concerns in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region highlighted an alleged pattern of “intimidations, threats and reprisals” against family members of Uyghurs in exile who had engaged in advocacy in relation to XUAR.

UN experts have written to the government of China in relation to these concerns.