I am Subi Mamat Yuksel. I am an Uyghur-American. I have a plea to the world. I am sincerely and desperately asking each and every one of you to help me rescue my 71-year-old father Mamat Abdullah from China’s prison.

On April 29 of 2017 when my parents were supposed to depart for their trip to the U.S, my 68 years old father Mamat Abdullah went missing. After 3 long years of my father’s sudden disappearance, the Chinese government sentenced him to a “Life Sentence” in prison. According to the Chinese government, they accused him of being a “separatist and two-faced”. They also accused my father of abusing the power to seek profits from others and confiscated his lifelong earnings along with my mother’s retirement income, insurance, and as a result, have left my mom with nothing.

My father was a former Chief of the Uyghur Region Forestry Department and had retired in 2018. My father has never committed any crimes and has spent all of his life doing valuable work for his homeland. Because of his great leadership ability, proficiency, and his integrity, he was always chosen to work at governing positions. Now, all of a sudden, he was proclaimed as a “criminal” in the eyes of the Chinese Communist Party, among millions of other Uyghurs who were jailed and locked in concentration camps.

His only crime is being a prominent intellectual and a well-respected Uyghur man. Therefore, the CCP was threatened by his talent, knowledge, and his excellence in leadership. In the eyes of the Chinese government, prominent, well-educated, and wealthy figures like my father within the Uyghur community, are seen and treated as a threat to the regime.

This despicable act of the Chinese government has given my entire family and me unforgettable nightmares. I am a mother of three, a newborn and two toddlers, struggling to fulfill my duties as a loving and caring mother due to the injustices of my father's imprisonment.

It’s unbearable when I think about him behind the bars. This traumatic experience has caused my family an immeasurable harm. Ever since his disappearance,  I have been living a challenge with sleepless nights, panic attacks, and the utter feeling of helplessness. I feel like I have lost our happiness forever. No one quite prepares you for this feeling and for what to do.

To me, he is the most generous, selfless, and a caring father. He puts his family’s happiness before him, and he always tries his best to give his family a comfortable future. He values sincerity, even though he has worked as a high authority in his entire life, yet he was very humble, and everyone respected him not because of his authority, but because of his amazing personality and his great spirit. After many years of dedicated work, he has provided, now that he has reached retirement, he should be able to enjoy this time in his life with my mother, and our family instead of being be subject to mistreatment and detention in terrible conditions.

My father who has several major health issues such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and who was finally able to break free of cancer in the past decade, is now in a life-threatening danger due to the brutal conditions and the spread of Coronavirus in the prisons of Uyghur Region.

Please take a few seconds to sign this petition to help me rescue my father. He deserves to see his grandchildren he hasn’t seen and deserves to hold them, kiss them, and spoil them.

Finally, I plead to the international communities & human rights organizations to help us raise awareness of my father’s case and urgently seek immediate assistance in locating my father by any means possible and helping in his release of wrongful imprisonment. 

To the journalists, lawyers, and humanitarians out there, if you think you can help me in any way please reach out to me subi.yuksel@gmail.com.