In April Mirzat Taher, an Australian permanent resident, was sentenced to 25 years in prison in Xinjiang - where China is committing crimes against humanity. 

In August 2016 Mirzat married Australian-born Mehray in Xinjiang - a region of China home to many Muslim ethnic minorities, including Uyghurs like Mirzat and Mehray.

In April 2017, Mirzat and Mehray were about to fly to Australia and start their life together, but police turned up at their door and detained Mirzat just 2 days before their flight.

In the nearly five years they have been married, Mirzat has been detained three times. Now, they face 25 years apart - simply because they are Uyghur. 

On 10 June, Amnesty International released a report finding that China is committing crimes against humanity in Xinjiang. 

The report - the most comprehensive investigation to date of the crushing repression faced by Muslim ethnic minorities - finds that hundreds of thousands of men and women have been subjected to mass internment and torture. Millions more live in fear, subject to an immense surveillance system.

Many men and women said they were sent to internment camps for travelling or studying overseas. Mehray believes that Mirzat is imprisoned because he travelled to and lived in Turkey for a year.

We can’t watch this happen, we must stand with Mirzat and Mehray, and all those living in Xinjiang, and call on China to end the systemic repression of Muslim ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.

Take action and call for Mirzat, and all those arbitrarily detained in Xinjiang, to be released.