Kazakh Activists Say Police Blocked Trip to US Embassy Over Xinjiang Advocacy

Kazakh police arrive after activists stage a protest against human rights abuses happening in China’s Xinjiang region, in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Nov. 13, 2025. Screenshot/Atajurt Kazakh Human RightsMembers of a Kazakh human rights organization and their relatives say they were detained and intercepted while attempting to travel to the U.S. Embassy in Kazakhstan’s capital this week to raise concerns about the prosecution of activists linked to Xinjiang-related advocacy.The incidents involved members of Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights, a group that has long documented the detention of ethnic Kazakhs, Uyghurs, and other minorities in China’s Xinjiang region, also known as East Turkistan among independence activists. Rights advocates say the actions by Kazakh authorities reflect increasing pressure on activists whose work has challenged both Beijing’s policies in Xinjiang and Kazakhstan’s close ties with China.Several activists had planned to meet U.S. Embassy officials in the capital Astana on May 29 to discuss recent criminal convictions of Atajurt members and the case of Bekzat Maksutkhan, a prominent figure associated with the organization.According to family members and activists, police repeatedly intervened to stop participants from reaching the capital.Intercepted on Way to EmbassyMaksutkhan’s wife, Nurguli Ibrayeva, told The Epoch Times she boarded a train in Almaty bound for Astana on May 25. She said she intended to meet with U.S. Embassy officials to discuss her husband’s case and the sentencing of multiple Atajurt members.Ibrayeva said police officers escorted her off the train before it departed and took her to a railway police station, where she was held for about 90 minutes. She added that she was later transferred to another police station, where two men in plain clothes questioned her for roughly two hours without presenting identification.She told The Epoch Times that the police kept asking why she was going to the U.S. Embassy and what she planned to tell them. She said police told her to explain everything to them instead and that there was no need to go to the U.S. Embassy.According to Ibrayeva, the men also warned her that she would not be allowed to reach Astana.“No matter whether you take a taxi, train, or plane, we will stop you,” she quoted them as saying. “You should just go home.”Another activist, Dina, an ethnic Kazakh businesswoman from Xinjiang who said she was previously detained in one of China’s internment camps, said she was also prevented from reaching Astana.Speaking to The Epoch Times on May 28, she said she had been traveling with Yerbek Nurakh’s wife, another activist connected to the group.“We were on the road from Almaty to Astana because the U.S. Embassy was scheduled to receive us at 11 a.m. tomorrow,” she said. “But before we reached Astana, we were stopped midway. Security personnel detained me and brought me back to Almaty.”Dina said the two women were held for more than five hours before police transported them back to the city.The Epoch Times reached out to the Astana Police Department and the Kazakhstan Ministry of Internal Affairs for comment, but did not receive a response by publication time.Documenting Xinjiang DetentionsAtajurt has spent years documenting cases involving ethnic Kazakhs and other minorities detained in China’s Xinjiang region, where Beijing has carried out mass arbitrary detention, forced assimilation, and other abuses.The Chinese communist regime has denied human rights violations in Xinjiang, describing its policies as counterterrorism measures.Last year, 19 Atajurt members publicly burned the Chinese flags and images of Chinese leader Xi Jinping to protest Beijing’s policies in Xinjiang.On April 13, a court in Kazakhstan convicted all 19 activists on charges of “inciting ethnic hatred.”Some received prison sentences of up to five years, while others were given restricted-freedom sentences. All were banned from participating in public or political activities for three years.Nurjan contributed to this report.