CFU PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 11, 2025
Contact: contact@campaignforuyghurs.org
https://campaignforuyghurs.org/

CFU Strongly Denounces Conviction of Anna Kwok’s Father

Washington, D.C. – Campaign for Uyghurs (CFU) strongly condemns the conviction of Kwok Yin-sang, the 68-year-old father of Hong Kong democracy activist Anna Kwok, by a Hong Kong national security court in a brazen act of transnational repression by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Anna Kwok is a Board Director of the Hong Kong Democracy Council and a prominent advocate for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement who fled Hong Kong in 2020 and now resides in the United States. Mr. Kwok may face up to seven years in prison simply for being Ms. Kwok’s father, with a fabricated sham connection to a life insurance policy associated with his daughter, who has been labeled an “absconder” by Hong Kong authorities for her pro-democracy activism abroad. CFU stands in solidarity with Anna Kwok and her family, and denounces the CCP’s ongoing efforts to silence dissidents by targeting their loved ones.

Mr. Kwok’s conviction is a clear example of the CCP’s transnational repression targeting families of activists beyond its direct reach. Hong Kong authorities have placed bounties on dozens of overseas dissidents, vowing to pursue them “for life.” Relatives of exiled activists have also faced harassment and police questioning. This approach mirrors the CCP’s established practice of targeting Uyghurs, where family members of dissidents abroad are often detained, imprisoned, or disappeared to force silence. CFU Founder and Executive Director Rushan Abbas’ sister, Dr. Gulshan Abbas, a retired physician, was disappeared by Chinese authorities in 2018 in direct retaliation for Rushan’s human rights advocacy and was later sentenced to 20 years in prison on fabricated charges.

“The conviction of Anna Kwok’s father is an attack not only on one family, but on the principle that those who speak out for freedom should not have their loved ones punished,” said Rushan Abbas, Founder and Executive Director of CFU. “My sister, Dr. Gulshan Abbas, has been imprisoned for over seven and a half years for no crime other than being related to me. The CCP uses our families as weapons against us, whether we are Uyghur, Hong Konger, Tibetan, or any other people who demand freedom. The international community must recognize that the state-organized crime of transnational repression is a direct assault on democracy, human rights, and the sovereignty of free nations, and it must be met with decisive action.”

The CCP’s transnational repression extends beyond Hong Kong and the Uyghur Region. From the persecution of Tibetan activists‘ families to the harassment of Chinese dissidents in the United States and Europe, the CCP operates a global network to expand its authoritarian influence into democracies. These tactics threaten both individual activists and the integrity of democratic societies that have provided them refuge. CFU urges the U.S. government and its allies to impose targeted sanctions on those responsible for transnational repression, strengthen protections for at-risk diaspora communities, and act immediately to secure the release of all individuals, including Dr. Gulshan Abbas, imprisoned for China’s political retribution. The world must send a clear message that it will not tolerate a regime that holds innocent people hostage to silence advocates for freedom.