A daughter and sister of a doctor detained and held in China for more than seven years are holding out hope that President Donald Trump's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping will lead to a prison release.
Dr. Gulshan Abbas, 63, a retired physician and ethnic Uyghur, was disappeared by Chinese authorities in September 2018 in China’s western region of Xinjiang, after her sister, Rushan Abbas, publicly spoke out against the Chinese Communist Party’s oppression of Uyghurs. Gulshan’s family was unaware of her whereabouts until December 2020, when it was learned that a secret trial had taken place in March 2019 declaring Gulshan guilty for “taking part in organized terrorism, aiding terrorist activities and seriously disrupting social order.”
Since 2014 fingers worldwide have pointed at China for their treatment of Uyghurs, described as a Turkic ethnic group native to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwest China, for alleged abuses including forced sterilization and labor, mass detention, sexual violence and torture, in addition to religious and cultural suppression. China has long refuted such claims, with accusations being viewed by the CCP as “very ridiculous” as described in a 2020 article in Global Times, part of CCP state-run media.
Now, Gulshan is entering her eighth year of imprisonment. Her daughter, Ziba Murat, and Rushan told Military.com that her health and morale are both deteriorating. Efforts to make Gulshan’s story an international one have succeeded, with both Rushan and Ziba invited as guests at multiple presidential State of the Union addresses. They have been in rooms with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.
Trump and Xi are scheduled to meet within three weeks’ time, with economics and specifically trade anticipated to encapsulate much of the leaders’ meeting. Americans being held as political prisoners remains another major priority, according to the Trump administration.
“President Trump is always concerned about Americans detained abroad, which is why he has brought over 100 individuals—a record number—home from around the world,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told Military.com.
A Speech, Followed by a Disappearance
The timing of Gulshan’s disappearance is directly correlated to the stature of her sister, Rushan, and one particular speech that years later continues to cause agony.
Rushan has long been one of the outspoken voices of dissent against the Chinese for its treatment of Uyghurs. She’s the founder and executive director of the nonprofit Campaign for Uyghurs, instituted in 2017 and publicly referencing the CCP’s actions as “genocide.” In October 2024 she was elected chairperson of the executive committee of World Uyghur Congress.
On March 15, 2018, she introduced and led the “One Voice One Step” initiative in 14 countries and 18 cities that involved demonstrations against China’s detention of millions of Uyghurs in concentration camps. Gulshan’s passport was canceled almost immediately thereafter.
A few short months later, on Sept. 5, 2018, Rushan and a panel convened at the Hudson Institute to discuss the PRC’s “war on terrorism.” and discuss the impacts on the most heavily garrisoned and surveilled region of Xinjiang, known to Uyghurs as “East Turkestan.”
Five days later, Gulshan disappeared. Rushan said it’s no coincidence.
“That was my first public speech ever,” Rushan told Military.com. “I spoke about mass detention and China's genocidal policies, outlining the fate of my in-laws. My husband's entire family went missing. That was televised on YouTube, it's still on there.”
It wasn’t just Gulshan who was taken by the PRC. The aunt of both Gulshan and Rushan—the only other living relative in China following the deaths of the Abbas sisters’ parents—was also detained the same exact day, some 900 miles (1,400 kilometers) away.
“At that time, China's mass detention was targeting thought leaders, educators, people who ever traveled to Muslim-majority countries, saying that they are infected by ideological Islamic extremists,” Rushan said.
She referenced how those individuals who were subject to detention were those who cover their hair, give off any kind of optics that show that they are religious or people who go to a mosque.
But “none of these criteria covers my sister,” she added, saying that Gulshan’s never traveled to Muslim-majority countries, worn headscarves, or put herself on the frontlines of the ideological debate.
“There's no way that she should be targeted other than that speech that I gave,” Rushan said.
'Not Free Yet'
Ziba Murat told Military.com that her mother had been traveling back and forth from China to the United States before her detainment to see her two daughters and three siblings (two brothers, one sister) who all reside in the states.
In 2016, Murat's sister had a baby and Gulshan met the child at 3 months old. That was the last time Murat, a Tampa, Fla., resident who in 2018 had an infant, had contact with her mother.
[My baby] was 3 months old. Being a new mom and trying to find out what happened to my mom, trying to advocate at the same time while working—it's just been very, very difficult. - Ziba Murat
“Of course, my aunt has been very vocal, but I have to say both administrations have been very supportive of the case, both parties, Republican or Democrat, but we're going on the eighth year of her detention," Murat added.
Even with the advocacy on behalf of the government and human rights groups, Murat said it remains a cold reality.
“I'm grateful for all the support I'm getting from everybody, but [my mother’s] still in jail. She's not free yet. That just makes me sad that we have so much support, but we still can't get her out.”
Forging Relationships in Washington
Countless efforts have been made in the United States by Rushan, Murat and the broader family that includes Rushan’s two older brothers who also reside in the U.S.
That has included direct conversations with some of Washington’s most powerful brokers, notably now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio and House Speaker Mike Johnson.
“Secretary Rubio was my senator then, so he is actually the first very few persons that publicly spoke about this case,” Murat said. “And since [Gulshan’s] detention, he's been vocal at all platforms about the case, calling for her release consistently.”
Johnson had Murat as a guest at this year’s State of the Union, with photos showing the pair together.
In an X post prior to the event, Johnson publicly referenced Gulshan being “forcibly detained and arrested by the Chinese Communist Party” for “speaking out about the CCP’s heinous treatment of Uyghur Muslims.”
Rushan has been a frequent guest to the State of the Union herself.
In 2020 she was hosted by Rubio. In 2023, she was hosted by Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), ranking member of the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the U.S. and the Chinese Communist Party. And then in 2024, she was a guest of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC).
Rushan and Murat met individuals ranging from former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (during Trump’s first term), to President Joe Biden.
Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), co-chair of the CECC, hosted Claire Lai at this year’s State of the Union address. She is the daughter of Jimmy Lai, a businessman who in February was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Hong Kong High Court.
Smith told Military.com that Gulshan’s “completely bogus ‘terrorism’ and ‘social disruption’ charges” are meant as retaliation against Rushan’s activism.
Rushan was described by Smith as “an excellent witness” at a CECC hearing two years ago, titled, ‘The PRC's Universal Periodic Review and the Real State of Human Rights in China,’ where she testified about the human rights abuses occurring in the XUAR, as well as how her sister’s arrest is a form of transnational kin punishment and repression.
Unfortunately, Dr. Abbas’ case is not an anomaly—it is a microcosm of a much larger issue. - Rep. Smith
“China wrongfully detains and imprisons more Americans—and the family members of U.S. nationals—than any other country in the world," Smith added.
Smith previously introduced legislation, the Nelson Wells Jr. and Dawn Michelle Hunt Unjustly Detained in Communist China Act (HR 5491), that would mandate the U.S. government to use multiple diplomatic, legal and economic levers to obtain the release of Americans and their family members from CCP imprisonment.
"This legislation will help to make the long-awaited release of Dr. Abbas, who is specifically named in the bill—and the countless other Americans and relatives of Americans wrongly imprisoned in China—an achievable reality," Smith said, urging his House colleagues to swiftly take up the legislation for a vote.
Returning to the Scene
As efforts to release her forge on, Gulshan’s health and mental state are deteriorating.
Murat described how Gulshan already had a list of health issues including high blood pressure and back pain that when it onsets effectively paralyzes her.
“She couldn't move. And then both of her eyes went through multiple surgeries and need to get checked up every year,” Murat said. “She needs to follow a medical procedure.”
But Murat said that whenever congressional offices reach out to the embassy and ask for any updates, all the answers are redundant and provide no real insight to her mother’s current condition.
“What worries me is that I don't know if anybody was allowed to go see her because all of us are here,” she added, fighting through tears. “All her immediate family members are in the United States. So when they tell me those things, I just keep wondering, has anybody gone see her physically? Does anybody know how she looks, you know, how she's doing?”
On March 16, Murat is speaking about the CCP’s political prisoners at the Hudson Institute—the very place where Rushan spoke almost eight years ago.
Years of Guilt
The Trump-Xi meeting may show promise for political dissidents and prisoners everywhere.
“This is a great chance for President Trump,” said Rushan, who remains close with Murat and her sister and recently visited her in Florida. “He always says Xi Jinping's his friend, maybe he should utilize that friendship or relationship to bring Gulshan to the United States to her family.”
Gulshan’s imprisonment is personal for Rushan for more reasons than one. She takes responsibility for her advocacy leading to the family’s unfathomable hardship, as that obviously of her sister.
It’s been difficult, it completely changed my life.
“Before my sister's detention, I had a successful career in business development and I was advocating at the site for Uyghur people's rights as an American citizen, practicing my freedom of speech under my constitution," she added.
"But imagine being the cost of your dear sister's detention lasting 7.5 years, waking up every day with that and going to bed every night with that feeling."
Gulshan was never a political person or even an outspoken one, Rushan said.
“I'm the youngest in my family and I was the one who was always outspoken or advocating for human rights,” she added. “But [Gulshan] was not. She retired at an early age due to health reasons.
“She's just a mother and a grandma.”
