The capital of China is Beijing. UN expert calls on Chinese authorities to provide information about jailed Uighur doctor Human Rights
A UN expert on Wednesday called on Chinese authorities to provide information on the status of imprisoned Uighur doctor Gulshan Abbas, believed to have been detained since 2019 is serving a 20-year sentence on terrorism-related charges.
“Nearly six years after her arrest, Dr. Abbas’s family still has no information about where she is being held, the evidence used to convict her and, most worryingly, the state of her health,” she said. Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders. “I appeal to the Chinese authorities to respect their international human rights obligations and at least provide the family of Dr. Abbas with the necessary information.”
Gulshan Abbas, who reportedly has a number of health complications, was detained in September 2018. Her family has not been given any information about the arrest, the charges against her, the trial, or the prison where she is being held. Official confirmation of the charges for which she was sentenced was provided only in December 2020 by a representative of the Chinese Foreign Ministry. In response to a question about her fate raised at a press conference, ;he said that Dr. Abbas was jailed for “the crimes of participating in a terrorist organization, aiding terrorist activities and gathering a crowd to disrupt public order.”
Gulshan Abbas has not been involved in any political or human rights activities, but she is the sister of US-based Uyghur human rights activist Rushan Abbas. Dr. Abbas was detained six days after her sister criticized the alleged persecution of the Uyghur population in China during a speech at a public event in Washington.
“I am appalled by the continued imprisonment of Gulshan Abbas in retaliation for her sister’s criticism of the Chinese authorities’ treatment of Uyghurs,” the Special Rapporteur said. The expert recalled that former High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, in her 2022 report on human rights in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, pointed to the practice of “intimidation, threats and repression” against exiled Uyghur family members who nbsp; criticized the Chinese authorities.
Read also: