At the time of his arrest, Abduhelil Abdurehim lived in the Lijing residential complex on Union Road in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi (in Chinese, Wulumuqi) and worked at the Uyghur restaurant chain Herembagh where he updated information on the company’s website, reports Radio Free Asia.

His brother, Abdusemi Abdurehim, who now lives in Japan, said he lost contact with Abduhelil in November 2021 and began to worry about his safety when he noticed that Herembagh’s website was no longer being updated.

Abdusemi suspected that authorities may have detained his brother because Abduhelil also stopped communicating via his WeChat messaging app.

He told the news portal that the last time he was in contact with his brother on WeChat was on June 12, along with their sister.

“He said he was fine and working,” said Abdusemi. “On June 26, when we sent him a WeChat message, he didn’t respond.”

When Abdusemi and the sister contacted Abduhelil’s wife to inquire about his brother, she told him that his phone was not working and he took it to be repaired.

“If it takes longer, then he might get a new one and he will contact you then,” she told Abdusemi.

“After hearing that explanation, we felt suspicious because a similar incident happened to him in 2020,” Abdusemi told RFA.

“I also found out that Herembagh has stopped putting new information on its website since Dec 10 of last year,” he said. “I then suspected that something happened to my brother.”

Who are Uyghur Muslims?

Uyghur Muslims are a Turkic minority ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia.

The Uyghurs are recognized as native to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China.