CFU Honors Ghulja Massacre Victims 29 Years Later

  • February 6, 2026

CFU PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 5, 2026
Contact: contact@campaignforuyghurs.org
https://campaignforuyghurs.org/

 

CFU Honors Ghulja Massacre Victims 29 Years Later

Washington, D.C. – On February 5, 2026, Campaign for Uyghurs (CFU) solemnly commemorates the 29th anniversary of the Ghulja Massacre, when Chinese security forces brutally suppressed and killed peaceful Uyghur protesters demanding fundamental human rights and freedoms. The massacre stands as a harrowing precursor to the systematic genocide now unfolding against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in East Turkistan.

In the months preceding February 5, 1997, Chinese authorities banned meshrep, traditional Uyghur social gatherings that fostered community cohesion and cultural identity. On February 5th, 1997, thousands of young Uyghurs gathered in Ghulja to peacefully protest Chinese aggression and the prohibition of meshrep. Chinese security forces responded with merciless violence, killing hundreds of people and injuring countless others. In the aftermath, nearly 4,000 Uyghurs were arrested, tortured, killed, and 200 were publicly executed.

“The Ghulja Massacre was a pivotal moment when the world could have recognized China’s trajectory toward genocide and chose silence instead,” Rushan Abbas, Founder and Executive Director of CFU. “That silence emboldened the CCP to expand its crimes into the systematic atrocities we witness today, mass detention and imprisonment, extrajudicial sentencing, forced sterilizations, family separations, state-imposed forced labor, and cultural erasure. Every year without accountability reinforces Beijing’s belief that it can continue to commit genocide with impunity and expand to threatening the future of the free world.”

CFU honors the memory of those lost in the Ghulja Massacre and reaffirms its commitment to justice for all Uyghurs facing persecution. We urge governments worldwide to recognize China’s broader threat to humanity, move beyond statements, and take concrete action through enforcing existing sanctions, passing legislation addressing forced labor and transnational repression, and opposing Beijing’s economic coercion that suppresses criticism.

Picture of Jacob

Jacob

Campaign for Uyghurs

We defend the human rights of Uyghur people and the free world by exposing and confronting the Chinese government's genocide, and empowering Uyghur women and youth in the diaspora.

Donate Now

READ MORE

Forced Labor, Coercive Land-Use Transfers, and Forced Assimilation in Xinjiang’s Agricultural Production
Located in the northwest of China, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region boasts long hours of sunshine and ample water for irrigation — making the region geographically ideal for growing cotton. Cotton grown in Xinjiang, which has good coloration and long fiber, is favored in both domestic and foreign markets.
‘This Has Been Delayed For Too Long’
Source: RFA Rushan Abbas, a former broadcaster for RFA’s Uyghur Service and the director of the U.S.-based Campaign for Uighurs exile group, recently testified at the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in Washington about rights violations in northwest China’s
Uyghurs in Exile Launch Campaign Calling on China to Release Video of Missing Family Members
Source: RFA More than a dozen ethnic Uyghurs living in exile have called on China to release video of family members held in political “re-education camps” in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) after Chinese state media published what it
Tough Curbs on Burials
Source: RFA HONG KONG—Ethnic minority Uyghurs from the far-west Chinese city of Urumqi say authorities attach strict conditions when they release the bodies of Uyghurs who die in custody. Hundreds of Uyghurs were detained as part of a broad crackdown
I’ve fought China’s slow-motion genocide of Uighur Muslims. Now, my family are victims.
Source: USA Today   The world is finally waking up to the ongoing and terrifying violations of human rights against the Uighurs — a Muslim minority in Northwest China. My own family is victim to these violations. As both an American citizen and
Remarks by Ambassador Sam Brownback at Taipei Religious Freedom Conference
Remarks by Ambassador Sam Brownback at Taipei Religious Freedom Conference March 11, 2019 I would like to thank President Tsai’s comments and her for taking the time to be here out of her busy schedule. I can’t help but just
On Capitol Hill, persecuted Muslims unite to protect religious minorities’ rights
(RNS) — More than 125 members of the minority Ahmadi Muslim sect spent Monday (April 1) on Capitol Hill advocating for international religious freedom causes — particularly lending their voices on behalf of beleaguered Uighur Muslims. As part of its
As Countries Seek Trade With China, Imprisoned Uyghur Community Has Become “Collateral Damage”
China’s top trade negotiator is traveling to Washington this week as tension over trade intensifies between the two nations. President Trump is threatening to impose a 25 percent tariff on nearly all Chinese imports after the U.S. accused China of

STAY
INFORMED

Add your name to our mailing list so we can keep you updated about upcoming events, speciality drives, new initiatives and more.