HRF condemns the arbitrary detention of three Uyghur sisters and their mother in Urumqi and calls on the Chinese regime to release them immediately. Families must not be criminalized for maintaining ordinary cross-border ties with loved ones abroad.

Officials detained the women after accusing them of “supporting terrorists” for shipping everyday household goods to their eldest sister in Turkey to support her small business. Despite providing documentation for the shipments, the family was arrested and remains under investigation.

The arrests came days after China’s new Ethnic Unity Promotion Law took effect, further raising concerns that Beijing is expanding its repression of Uyghurs through forced assimilation and transnational repression. Ordinary family contact with relatives overseas is increasingly being treated as a national security threat.

HRF stands in solidarity with the Uyghur people and all those targeted for maintaining family ties across borders. Beijing’s use of national security to criminalize peaceful cross-border relationships is part of its broader campaign to silence and intimidate Uyghurs both inside and beyond China.