Renagul Gheni is imprisoned for her Uyghur identity and religious beliefs.

In 2018, Chinese authorities detained Renagul, an elementary school art teacher and mother of two, in Cherchen (Qiemo) county, Xinjiang. She was reportedly arrested for offering funeral prayers for her father and possessing a Qur’an, which she had also loaned to others. Gheni was sentenced to 17 years in prison for these actions as part of China’s broader crackdown on Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.

Her sister Kalbinur only learned of her imprisonment in 2019 and has been pressured by Chinese authorities to stop speaking out. Renagul’s case is just one among 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities who have been detained in internment camps, subjected to forced labor, and stripped of their rights. China continues to criminalize peaceful religious practices and silence those who expose these injustices.