Bipartisan Senate Resolution Calls for Release of Uyghur Dr. Gulshan Abbas and Other Political Prisoners

  • April 21, 2026

CFU PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 20th, 2026
Contact: contact@campaignforuyghurs.org
https://campaignforuyghurs.org/

 

Bipartisan Senate Resolution Calls for Release of Uyghur Dr. Gulshan Abbas and Other Political Prisoners

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced a bipartisan resolution urging that President Trump prioritize the release of wrongfully detained individuals held by the People’s Republic of China, including Dr. Gulshan Abbas, Pastor Jin Mingri, Pastor Gao Quanfu and his wife Pang Yu, and Jimmy Lai.

Republicans and Democrats standing together on this important action sends an unambiguous message that the defense of human rights and the release of innocent political prisoners is a fundamental American value. 

“My sister, Dr. Gulshan Abbas, has spent nearly eight years in a Chinese prison unjustly in direct retaliation for my advocacy for Uyghur people’s rights as an American citizen,” said Rushan Abbas, Founder and Executive Director of Campaign for Uyghurs. “I am deeply grateful to the Senate for this bipartisan resolution. The May summit with Xi Jinping is an opportunity for President Trump to bring my sister to her family, where she belongs, and put an end to the agony that has lasted since 2018. Each day that she is in China’s jail refuels me to fight harder against the CCP’s atrocities. All these individuals must be freed immediately. The United States must ensure Xi Jinping hears–publicly and privately–that their release is a non-negotiable priority.”

Dr. Gulshan Abbas, a retired medical doctor, a grandmother, a non-political person who was living an ordinary law-binding life in Urumchi, was forcibly disappeared in September, 2018. She was taken a few days after Rushan spoke at a public event at the Hudson Institute about the CCP’s persecution of Uyghurs. Dr. Gulshan Abbas was sentenced in secret proceedings, on sham fabricated charges, and she now enters her eighth year of imprisonment, suffering from severe medical conditions. Pastor Jin Mingri has been held without diabetes medication or family contact since October 2025. Pastor Gao Quanfu’s wife, Pang Yu, who holds no official church position, has been denied critical prescription medication since June 2025. Jimmy Lai was sentenced to 20 years in February 2026 on national security charges widely condemned as politically motivated.

CFU calls on President Trump to place the release of Dr. Gulshan Abbas, Pastor Jin Mingri, Pastor Gao Quanfu, Pang Yu, Jimmy Lai, and all wrongfully detained individuals at the top of the agenda for the May 2026 summit with CCP Party Secretary Xi Jinping. The window to act is now. 

Rushan Abbas tells the full story of the Uyghur genocide, her family’s fight for justice, including Dr. Gulshan Abbas’s imprisonment, in her book Unbroken: One Uyghur’s Fight for Freedom. 

This resolution was jointly introduced by Senators Kaine (D-VA), Grassley (R-IA), McConnell (R-KY), Merkley (D-OR), Capito (R-WV), Schatz (D-HI), Alsobrooks (D-MD), Ricketts (R-NE), Van Hollen (D-MD), Budd (R-NC), and Curtis (R-UT).

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