Justice For All’s Save Uyghur Campaign Commemorates the 17th Anniversary of the July 5 Urumchi Massacre

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 1, 2026)

July 5 marks 17 years since the Urumchi Massacre, when Chinese authorities brutally cracked down on peaceful Uyghur demonstrators in the city of Urumchi in Chinese-occupied East Turkistan. Justice For All’s Save Uyghur Campaign solemnly commemorates this anniversary and calls for renewed, urgent global action against the Chinese Communist Party’s ongoing atrocities, crimes that continue to amount to genocide.

In 2009, thousands of Uyghurs took to the streets of Urumchi demanding justice for the killing of Uyghur workers in Guangdong Province on June 26. What followed was a wave of state-sponsored violence that left hundreds dead, thousands imprisoned or disappeared, and an entire community traumatized. The massacre was not an isolated event, but a turning point that exposed Beijing’s determination to silence Uyghur voices and erase the Uyghurs as a people.

“As Uyghurs, we refuse to let the victims of July 5 be forgotten,” said Arslan Hidayat, Team Lead of Justice For All’s Save Uyghur Campaign. “The Urumchi Massacre was a warning to the world of what the Chinese Communist Party was prepared to do to our people. Seventeen years later, that warning has become a genocide. We call on governments to match their words with action, hold the Chinese government accountable, and stand with the Uyghur people in their pursuit of justice, freedom, and the right to live without fear.”

Justice For All calls on governments, human rights organizations, faith communities, and civil society to strengthen efforts to hold the Chinese government accountable and support policies that protect Uyghurs and other persecuted communities.

The Save Uyghur Campaign also encourages supporters around the world to participate in July 5 commemorations and peaceful protests honoring the victims of the Urumchi Massacre. Justice will not come from remembrance alone. It requires action. Seventeen years after the Urumchi Massacre, the struggle for truth, accountability, and the freedom of East Turkistan continues.

Contact: Arslan Hidayat, arslan@justiceforall.org  Phone: 202-908-JUST

Website: https://www.justiceforall.org

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