PRESS RELEASE
Uyghur Center for Democracy and Human Rights (UZDM)
Contact: contact@uzdm.de
23 March 2026
On 24 March 2026, the Uyghur Center for Democracy and Human Rights (UZDM) marks the birthday of Hushtar Isa, the younger brother of prominent Uyghur activist, President of UZDM and former President of the World Uyghur Congress, Dolkun Isa. This year also marks ten years since both of his brothers, Hushtar Isa and Yalkun Isa, were arbitrarily detained and forcibly disappeared by Chinese authorities in East Turkistan in retaliation for Dolkun Isa’s peaceful advocacy for Uyghur human rights.
A decade later, their fate and whereabouts remain unknown. Their family has received no official confirmation from Chinese authorities as to whether they are alive.
“The enforced disappearance of Hushtar and Yalkun Isa is not an isolated case—it is part of a broader pattern of collective punishment targeting Uyghur families, especially those with relatives engaged in peaceful advocacy abroad,” UZDM President Dolkun Isa stated.
According to sources inside China, Hushtar Isa has been sentenced to life imprisonment, while Yalkun Isa is believed to be serving a 20-year prison sentence—both on fabricated and politically motivated charges.
Hushtar Isa (also known as Hushtar Eysa, or Huxitaer Aisha in Chinese official documents) was born on 24 March 1973 in Aksu. After graduating from Xi’an Jiaotong Highway University in 1996, he faced systemic discrimination in employment due to his brother’s activism. In 1998, he was sentenced to two years in prison on charges of “inciting separatism,” widely regarded as politically motivated. He later worked as a driving instructor in Aksu and was reportedly detained again in early 2017. In May 2021, Radio Free Asia confirmed that he had been sentenced to life imprisonment.
Yalkun Isa (also known as Yalkun Eysa, or Yalikun Aisha in Chinese official documents), born on 22 April 1962 in Aksu, was a mathematics teacher at the Aksu Education Institute after graduating from Xinjiang University in 1984. He was reportedly detained in 2018 and later sentenced to a lengthy prison term. In February 2025, Radio Free Asia confirmed that he is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
Both cases have been submitted to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) in April 2020. The Working Group formally transmitted inquiries to the Chinese government on 17 November 2020 and again in June 2025. To date, no response has been received.
International actors have repeatedly raised the cases. German Foreign Ministers addressed the situation with Chinese authorities in both 2024 and 2025. The European Union also highlighted the cases in official statements delivered on 3 October 2024 during the 57th session of the Human Rights Council, again on 10 December 2024 in connection with Human Rights Day, and most recently on 16 March 2026 during the 61st session of the Human Rights Council.
UZDM calls on the Chinese government to:
- Immediately disclose the whereabouts and legal status of Hushtar Isa and Yalkun Isa;
- Ensure their protection from torture and ill-treatment;
- Release them unconditionally;
- Respond without delay to the communications of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.
As UZDM marks Hushtar Isa’s birthday, we stand in solidarity with the Isa family and all Uyghur families still waiting for answers about their disappeared loved ones.