United Nations Submission made by Justice Abroad in Regard to Ethnic Uyghur Family Disappeared and Detained in China

JUSTICE ABROAD

“Here When You Need Us”

Press Statement

Justice Abroad has submitted communications to the United Nations’ Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances, and the UN Special Rapporteurs on Racism, Indigenous Issues, and Freedom of Religion on behalf of husband and wife Mr Abdurashid Tohti and Mrs Tajigul Qadir and their sons, Mohamed and Ametjan. This family group has been disappeared and arbitrarily detained in China because the two daughters of the family lived abroad.

The UN bodies, upon being seized with the case will request that China account for the whereabouts of the four individuals and that they justify the reason for their detention. If the UN bodies find that they were subject to enforced disappearance or are being arbitrarily detained can demand that they are accounted for and released. .

The two daughters of the family which comes, from Saybag Town, in Shufu County, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), live outside the country in the United States of America and Turkey and it is understood that this is why they have been seized and detained. One of the the daughters is currently working as a journalist for Radio Free Asia’s Uyghur Service the world’s only Uyghur language news service.

Mr Abdurashid Tohti and his two sons, Mohamed and Ametjan, worked at car repair shop that was their family’s business, in the city of Kashgar, while Mrs Tajigul Qadir took care of the household. Now they have been transferred into the XUAR’s vast network of internment camps and prisons where authorities hold over a million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims despite them not having committed any crimes, in contravention of international law.

Mr Polak states the following ‘For the sisters having the rest of their family seized and disappeared is a nightmare. They have spoken out to raise the case of their family and we hope that the UN bodies will also call for their release. It is time for the international community to do more for those fighting for their relatives who are subject to systematic arbitrary internment which amounts to a crime against humanity.’

On social media we are using the hashtag #FreeNursFamily. Justice Abroad can be found on Twitter here, Facebook here, and LinkedIn here.

Media requests for interviews with Michael Polak or members of the Abdurashid family can be accommodated in any language requested and should be made by contacting Justice Abroad by email at contact@JusticeAbroad.co.uk or phone on +44 (0)203 488 2316.

Notes to Editors

Justice Abroad, www.justiceabroad.co.uk has been set up to help those trying to find their way through foreign justice systems with all the associated hurdles that presents, to represent those facing gross breaches of their human rights no matter where this takes place, and to advise and assist the victims of crimes as to how to achieve justice.

Justice Abroad, run by International lawyer Michael Polak, has assembled a team of top investigators, lawyers, and support staff to provide unparalleled support, advice and guidance, legal, advocacy, and investigatory service for your Justice Abroad issues anywhere in the world.  The Justice Abroad team with their trusted international pool of multilingual experts, their networks, and media contacts and their well-documented determination to leave no stone unturned in the search for the truth and justice for families who have been denied it are here to provide that much needed support for families and individuals in their time of need.