WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Chris Coons (D-Del.), issued the following statement on the eighth anniversary of the arbitrary detention of Ekpar Asat:
“Eight years ago, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) kidnapped Uyghur entrepreneur Ekpar Asat, who has remained wrongfully imprisoned ever since. Ekpar spent multiple years in solitary confinement in Aksu prison camp in China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Uyghur Region, causing severe impacts on his health. We are gravely concerned for Ekpar’s wellbeing, condemn in the strongest terms his arbitrary detention, and call for his immediate, unconditional release.
“Ekpar is one of the many Uyghurs and other ethnic Muslim minorities in China subjected to appalling human rights violations at the hands of the CCP. The United States will not turn a blind eye to the genocide and crimes against humanity being committed against Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic groups in China. We will continue to fight for their internationally recognized human rights and press for the release of all those wrongfully detained, including Ekpar.”
Background:
The Chinese government has detained more than one million Uyghurs since 2017 and continues to pursue a brutal campaign of genocide, crimes against humanity, oppression, and arbitrary detainment against Uyghurs and other ethnic Muslim minorities. Reports indicate the regional CCP government in Xinjiang has prosecuted over half a million Uyghurs and others, and continues to subject many more to intense surveillance, religious restrictions, forced labor, and forced sterilizations and abortions.
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