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An American woman whose mother has been wrongfully imprisoned in China for eight years is hoping that President Donald Trump will ask Chinese leader Xi Jinping for clemency during the high-profile ongoing summit between the pair of world leaders Thursday.
“We are doing everything we can to bring this in front of President Trump, and I know that if he knows about this case, he will care about this case,” Ziba Murat told Fox News Digital in an emotional interview on her mother’s continued imprisonment.
“I hope we are pulling the right levers and President Trump can bring her home.”
Dr. Gulshar Abbas is Murat’s mother. She was 56 when she disappeared from her home on Sept. 10, 2018. In December of that year, according to Murat, Chinese government officials confirmed in a press conference that Abbas was convicted on charges of taking part in organized terrorism, aiding terrorist activities and seriously disrupting social order — charges Murat describes as “made up” — and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
A family photo shows Ziba Murat (L) and Dr. Gulshan Abbas, a political prisoner in China (C). (Ziba Murat)
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“Her disappearance came six days after her sister, my aunt Rushan Abbas, spoke … about what’s happening to the Uyghur people back home, and then the Chinese government picked her up six days after,” said Abbas.
“We didn’t see it coming, honestly, because she is a retired doctor. She’s not a political person. She’s not an activist. She’s just a grandma and, you know — it took us almost two years to find out what happened to her [and] where she’s being held.”
Rushan Abbas runs Campaign for Uyghurs, a large nonprofit advocacy group for the Muslim minority population in China, which has been subject to brutal oppression at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
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Abbas’ case is a prominent one. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has used his position and official office to advocate on her behalf.
Murat was the Republican leader’s guest at the 2026 State of the Union speech.
Lawmakers discuss the case of Dr. Gulshan Abbas, a woman wrongfully imprisoned in China over her American daughter’s Uyghur activism. (Ziba Murat)
But progress in freeing her mother has been an uphill battle, considering the secretive nature of the Chinese government and tensions with the United States over issues like trade and intellectual property theft, among many others.
Abbas is hoping that some of that tension will abate after Thursday’s bilateral summit, and that by the end of the day, she’ll be one step closer to seeing her mother again.
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Through tears, Abbas described life without her mother, noting that she’s missing out on precious memories with her family, 24 of whom are United States citizens. Murat’s daughter was only three months old when Abbas disappeared.
“It’s been hard because, like I said, I was a new mom myself when all this started happening,” she said. “And my sister had her second baby four weeks after … my mom’s disappearance.”
A portrait of Dr. Gulshan Abbas, who is wrongfully imprisoned in China. (Ziba Murat)
Her daughter, now eight, is starting to ask questions about her grandmother.
“Just a couple of months ago, we were reading a book … [the] encyclopedia for kids, and they have the pages of [the] family tree,” Abbas said. “So we’re going over, you know, talking about my husband’s parents and then my parents, and she just sat there and looked at me. She’s like, ‘I saw aunt Rushan has grandma Gulshar’s picture … [and] it says my sister is gone.’ Where is grandma?”
Murat is trying hard to withhold the real answer to that question, and tells her daughter that Abbas is far away, and the family is hoping that she can come meet her soon. But with all the meetings Murat attends and people with whom she discusses the case, her young daughter is starting to catch on.
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Ziba Murat keeps a stitched butterfly, made by her imprisoned mother Dr. Gulshar Abbas, on her kitchen counter. (Ziba Murat)
“She just lets out this big sigh, and she’s like, ‘Oh, okay.’ I thought she was in jail,'” Murat explained. “Even without me telling her, she started to pick up things and It just breaks my heart to see her, and I don’t have answer to provide her. on when her grandma will be home. So it’s very frustrating.”
A senior White House official confirmed to Fox News on Wednesday that Trump is expected to ask Xi to release at least one prisoner, U.S. citizen Dr. Youlin Chen, who was arrested outside of a Beijing airport by Chinese officials in 2024.
Editor’s Note: The interview with Abbas was lightly edited for grammar and clarity.