Press Releases

U.S. Representatives Donald S. Beyer, Jr. (D-VA) and Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) today wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging him to ensure that human rights abuses perpetrated against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang are addressed in all future high-level meetings between the U.S. and Chinese governments. They also raised the cases of Uyghur families with relatives in Virginia, including the family of Memeteli Abdurashid, and the family of Adbulhakim Idris and Rushan Abbas, who have been detained and sentenced to years in prison without cause.

“The State Department should demand information about the well-being and whereabouts of the people, including the family of Memeteli Abdurashid, and the family of Adbulhakim Idris and Rushan Abbas, who have been detained or gone missing without a trace and call for the release of anybody arbitrarily detained,” the members wrote. “We urge the administration to continue to highlight detained or missing individuals when in dialogue with Chinese counterpart whenever an opportunity arises.”

An estimated one million members of mainly Muslim ethnic groups have been arbitrarily detained and sent to internment camps or prison in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China.

Full text of the letter is available here.