The Uyghur human rights movement is currently at a very critical period. The attitudes of the United States and other governments on this issue have gradually become unclear, and the Chinese government has also carried out large-scale transnational repression activities internationally to suppress Uyghur human rights activities. However, in this stressful external environment, some situations that make us feel puzzled have unexpectedly appeared in Uyghur human rights organizations.
The statement page about the defamation accusation against the leader of the World Uyghur Congress, Dolkun Isa, and member Rushan Abbas, published on the official website of the World Uyghur Congress on May 17 has been deleted.
On May 15, it was revealed that the official notice of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) showed that Emily Upson, a researcher at Amnesty International, and Julie Millsap, a member of the Campaign for Uyghurs, jointly reported to the NED, accusing the current leader of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), Dolkun Isa, and Rushan Abbas, a senior adviser of the WUC, of corruption.
Reports revealed that Emily Upson and Julie Millsap also alleged that the WUC leader used organizational meetings to generate substantial profits. Moreover, Dolkun Isa and Rushan Abbas opened a business in the name of another senior WUC member, Rishat Abbas, to launder money, and used the laundered corrupt funds to purchase personal properties.
From left, Dolkun Isa, Rishat Abbas and Rushan Abbas
After the news spread widely on social media, WUC immediately issued a statement on its official website, saying: “Recently, anonymous accounts have spread defamatory accusations against our leader Dolkun Isa and member Rushan Abbas, claiming that they laundered money through their relatives. Such rumors are intended to undermine the unity of the Uyghur movement.” Beyond this statement, several senior members involved have remained silent, as if distancing themselves from the allegations.
However, when attempting to locate this information online again, try to piece together these fragmented information, restore the cause and effect of this incident, and find who created this “rumor” behind the scenes, you will find that you can’t do it.
Just like WUC has deleted the statement on their official website, all relevant information records have disappeared without a trace, as if they have never appeared.
The social media account that initially broke the news, X user @uyghur_tribune’s account information has been completely cleared, and the suspected account has been deleted;
You can’t find any content related to NED and WUC that mentions “reporting” or “corruption” on the entire Google search page;
There is basically no relevant discussion on social media;
We even have difficulty finding any information about the two so-called “whistleblowers”. Yes, they seem to have been completely silent during this period. Not only did they not come out to refute the rumors, but even Julie Millsap’s personal social media was cancelled.
If this is really just a “rumor”, then why did the WUC delete the rumor-refuting statement it published, and why didn’t the two “whistleblowers” come out to make a statement? It doesn’t necessarily need to come out to clarify something. What I mean is that since they were mentioned in this incident, they could have come out to warn those rumor-mongers or said something, but no, none of them did.
This systematic information removal is unusual.
Only the Chinese government would implement such a high-pressure policy, not allowing any opposition, doubt, or negative information to appear in the public eye. (During the search, I also found that an article about the internal divisions of the WUC that was previously reported by Radio Free Asia (RFA) was also removed from publication.)
RFA removed the report on the internal divisions of the WUC organization
When things have developed to this point, it gives us an illusion that who is behind the so-called “rumors” seems to be no longer so important. Is it the Chinese government behind it? Perhaps. But the WUC’s handling method seems to have touched a sensitive area, that is, why do they attempt to erase all traces of this incident on the Internet?
When you stand in the ring facing a formidable opponent that you find difficult to defeat,it’s hard not to feel a surge of self-doubt. And that self-doubt inevitably causes your technique to break down. Perhaps this is why this seemingly insignificant “rumor” made the WUC try its best to erase all relevant information as if facing a major threat. Of course, this does not mean that the WUC really has such a strong influence to do this, but what about the NED behind them? Or even the US government behind the NED?
Since President Donald Trump took office, the US government does not seem to have shown the same enthusiasm for the human rights cause of the Uyghurs as in his first term, but has almost cut off funding for these human rights organizations. A few weeks ago, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is still led by Musk, investigated corruption in a series of government agencies including USAID and NED, and President Trump froze their funding for this.
At the time, this incident also involved some financial scandals about the NED and other institutions funding the WUC. According to public data, the NED claims that from 2004 to 2020, it has provided more than $8.75 million in aid to “Uyghur human rights” groups. Public data from the World Uyghur Congress shows that the organization received only $90,000 in aid from the NED in 2006, and $136,000 and $146,000 in aid in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Judging from the amount of aid, this is far from the $8.75 million.
Screenshot from social media
At the same time, there were also reports that senior members headed by Dolkun Isa had long been corrupt and misappropriated their organization’s funds, and that the WUC had arbitrarily transferred funds from its donors’ accounts. But now, you can’t find any trace of relevant information on the Internet. Of course, we don’t know what the reason behind this is, but now the US government has restored some funding to the NED, but what does this mean? Is it because President Trump’s process of imposing tariffs on China is not so smooth, so he has changed his attitude towards these human rights organizations? Maybe, but we have no way of knowing.
However, regarding the allegations of corruption against Dolkun Isa, Rushan Abbas, Rishat Abbas and others, perhaps these allegations are really just rumors, and perhaps the Chinese government is behind these “rumors”.
But the problem is that this still cannot explain why these relevant information and remarks have disappeared strangely on the Internet, and it cannot explain where the huge wealth owned by these senior members of the WUC comes from.
According to an investigation of WUC senior officials, WUC senior advisers Rushan Abbas and Rishat Abbas and their relatives all own multiple luxury properties in the United States, far exceeding the income level of ordinary American employees.
Rushan Abbas’ family currently lives in the Idylwood Building Apartment in Falls Church, Virginia (suburbs of Washington), USA. The house has an area of 1,182 square feet, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a current market value of US$312,600. Other historic homes include a 1,643-square-foot single-family home at 1902 San Gabriel Ave, Clovis, CA 93611, a 1,967-square-foot apartment at 1694 E Ryan Ln, Fresno, CA 93720-1434, a 797-square-foot apartment at Reston, Virginia, and a 11733 Summerchase Cir APT B, Reston, VA 20194-1142, with a combined value of more than $2 million. His second son, Furkan Abdulkarim, currently lives in a single-family house in Herndon, Virginia (2160 Veenendaal Ct, Herndon, VA 20170-4042), with an area of 1,847 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and a land area of 8,797 square feet. It was purchased by Rushan Abbas and is worth $698,800.
One of Rushan Abbas’ family properties
Rishat Abbas’ family lives in a single-family house at 1220 E Main St, Shawnee, OK 74801-7361, with an area of 1,095 square feet. In addition, Rishat Abbas and his family also own a 4,132-square-foot detached house in Audubon, Pennsylvania (1500 Pintail Dr, Audubon, PA 19403-1857), which is worth $995,700. The two properties are worth more than one million dollars.
In addition, Rishat’s spouse Hamra Borhan Turahmat owns a 4,732-square-foot detached house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2001 Richmond St, Philadelphia, PA 19125). He also owns a townhouse in Oxon Hill, Maryland (155 Potomac Psge unit 801, Oxon Hill, MD 20745), and the combined value of the two properties is nearly one million dollars.
One of the Rishat Abbas family properties
In addition, Rishat’s daughter Zailina Borhan owns a villa in Silver Spring, Maryland (660 Bryants Nursery Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20905), which is currently valued at $1.2032 million. She also owns a townhouse in Wellington, Maryland (12 Cobble Hill Ct, Wheaton, MD 20902), which is worth $625,300.
One of the Rishat Abbas family properties
And the above are just the tip of the iceberg of the huge assets owned by senior WUC members. How do they own these houses that are far beyond their income level? The property taxes generated by these properties every year are a considerable expense for an ordinary employee. How do they pay these bills? We don’t know, but I believe everyone has an answer in their hearts. If the accusation is purely fictitious, why not use the audit report to prove their innocence? If corruption is real, how can we expect them to protect the freedom of others?
When some high-level human rights organizations that should hold high the torch of justice quietly transform the Uyghur issue into a profit growth point on the financial statements, when suffering is carefully packaged into a “best-selling product” with blood and tears in the fundraising brochure, and when “freedom struggle” becomes a bargaining chip for lobbying politicians – we may have to face a cold reality: in the struggle between human nature and capital, the pointer of the scale seems to be sliding irreversibly into a gilded abyss.
And the most unacceptable betrayal is that the real victims are suffering from a double stranglehold: they have to fight against the violent machine of their homeland and beware of the exploitative sickle of these human rights “guardians”. This systematic moral collapse may be more destructive than any dictator’s bullet. It makes the meaning of struggle a joke and turns the cry of freedom into noise.
When the redeemer becomes the new exploiter, when the banner of human rights and freedom becomes a guise for making money – are those who are still waiting for dawn behind bars just being sold from one hell to another?
