Uyghur: Activist Rushan Abbas highlights atrocity faced by her sister in hands of China

“My only sister became the victim for my activism here in America [that I undertook] as an American citizen,” Abbas was quoted as saying by Medium.

“These two women got picked up on the same day as the Chinese government’s way of sending me a loud and clear message to try to pressure me to be silent," she said.

Abbas said she became more vocal for the cause of the Uyghur community, which has been facing Chinese atrocities, since then.

Abbas belongs to the Uyghur community.

Uyghurs are Turkic Muslim ethnic minority who mostly live in the Xinjiang province of western China.

For decades, the Chinese government has tried to assimilate Uyghurs by force into the country’s majority Han cultural identity, reports Medium.

Abbas said her grandfather was imprisoned the year she was born because China considered him a “nationalist.”

He was a governor of a town in the Xinjiang province and was very popular. 

“The Chinese government has always felt threatened by any Uyghur who can be a voice and lead the people,” said Abbas. “Most Uyghur influencers like my grandpa were taken away and executed or thrown in jail during China’s Great Cultural Revolution of the ’60s and ’70s. He was in jail for three years.”

Since 2016, the government has sent approximately three million Uyghurs to forced labor camps, prisons, and other detention centers, reports Medium.

Abbas is still not sure if her sister is alive.

“I wake up in the middle of the night and can’t go to sleep because we know [COVID-19] made it over to Urumqi,” she said. “We have not seen a proof of life video, haven’t heard her voice, or know where she is."

She demanded immediate action and said: "What’s happening to our people right now is a repeat of history. Never Again is happening in front of our eyes. If we don’t act now the only voice left to speak will be a voice of regret.”