Classification: Uyghur-Canadian activist; imprisoned in China since 2006; reported in custody as of August 2026.
Background
Huseyincan Celil (玉山江•吉力力), also rendered Huseyin Celil, is a Uyghur activist born on March 1, 1969, in Kashgar, Xinjiang. According to the CHRD prisoner database, he worked as a farmer and later as an imam in Payzawat (Jiashi) County, was first imprisoned in the 1990s, and fled China in the late 1990s. The United Nations refugee agency recognized him as a refugee; Canada admitted him in 2001 and he became a Canadian citizen in November 2005. He settled in Hamilton, Ontario, with his wife, Kamila Telendibaeva.
Note on the name: 玉山江•吉力力 is a transliteration of his Uyghur name, not a Han Chinese name. “Yu Shanjiang,” which appears in some official Chinese accounts, is a mis-segmentation of that transliteration and should not be used. Amnesty International renders the name “Huseyin Celil”; his Canadian passport uses Huseyincan Celil.
Arrest and deportation
In March 2006, Celil travelled to Uzbekistan with his wife to visit her relatives. On March 27, 2006, Uzbek police arrested him in Tashkent. Canada asked for his release and return to Canada; instead, he was deported to China in June 2006, where he faced charges including terrorism. Amnesty International said he was falsely accused of serious offences because of his activities in support of Uyghur rights. Uzbek and Kyrgyz authorities claimed he was a wanted man named Guler Dilaver; his family and Canadian supporters dispute that identification.
Trial, sentencing, and commutation
The Ürümqi Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Celil to life imprisonment on April 19, 2007, on charges of “splittism” (plotting to split the country) and participating in a terrorist organization, with deprivation of political rights for life. An appeal was rejected in July 2007. Canada was denied access to the trial and has never been granted consular access to Celil; China treats him as a Chinese national, stating it does not recognize his Canadian citizenship.
On February 1, 2016, the court commuted his sentence. Published accounts differ on the resulting term — one prisoner database records a reduction to 15 years (term ending February 2031), while Amnesty International Canada’s campaign page states the life sentence was reduced to 20 years. Both accounts place him in Xinjiang No.1 Prison near Ürümqi. No precise release date is published here because the commutation figures conflict between sources.
Family
Celil’s wife Kamila Telendibaeva has campaigned publicly for his release, including a 2021 Canadian television interview urging the government to press China harder. His mother and sister live in Xinjiang; family visits, previously allowed every two years, stopped in 2016. Several of the couple’s children remained in China. Amnesty reports that no one has heard from Celil or his Xinjiang family since 2016.
Current status
The Rights Defense Network’s monthly in-custody report for August 2026 lists 玉山江•吉力力 among people it records as sentenced to fifteen years, consistent with him still serving. Current health, cell assignment, and treatment are unverified and must not be inferred.
Sources: Amnesty International Canada, “Huseyin Celil” campaign page; Uyghur Human Rights Project, “Learning From the Deportation and Imprisonment of Huseyin Celil” (March 27, 2024); Wikipedia, “Hüseyincan Celil”; Chinese Human Rights Defenders, Prisoners of Conscience database record 玉山江•吉力力 / “Huseyin Celil”; Rights Defense Network (维权网), Issue 131 monthly in-custody report, August 31, 2026.
Media profile & archive: Media archive for Huseyincan Celil (玉山江•吉力力)