Gulshan Abbas’ daughter told a presentation organized by the U.S. Congress and the Administration’s China Committee (CECC) that her family recently learned she had been convicted of terrorism-related charges last March. She had previously been lost in September 2018.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular press conference on Thursday that Abbas was sentenced “for the crimes of participating in a terrorist organization, helping terrorist activities and gathering a crowd to disrupt social order.”
“We urge some politicians on the U.S. side to respect the facts, stop fabricating lies and smearing China, and stop using border-related issues to interfere in China’s internal affairs,” Wang said.
Abbas’s daughter, Ziba Murat, called the allegations “absurd.
Abbas’s sister, Rushan Abbas, said the allegations are due to her and her brother Rishat Abbas’s involvement in the rights movement in the United States.
“We are committed to defending the rights of our people and running for justice, and now our sisters are being denied justice as punishment,” Rushan Abbas said.
In a tweet, Robert Destro, U.S. assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, said China must release Gulisian Abbas.
“Her forced disappearance, detention and harsh sentence by the Chinese Communist Party is a testament to the consequences of speaking out against a government that does not respect human rights,” he said.
Ziba Mullati said she would not disclose her sources in order to protect their identities.
“All we know is that she was sentenced to 20 years, and we are trying to get more information,” she said.
“My mom was a medical professional, apolitical and kind. She has spent her life helping people,” she said. Ziba-Mullati also said her mother suffers from a number of illnesses, including High blood pressure, and is in poor health.
CECC Chairman Rep. George McGovern, D-N.Y., called this punishment of innocent relatives “morally reprehensible” as an attempt to suppress free speech.
He said it is just part of China’s “massive persecution” of the Uighur people, as many as 1.8 million of whom are in internment camps, forced labor and other abuses.
China called the reported high-security facilities educational and vocational institutions and said those who entered them had “graduated” and returned home.
Recent Comments