September 23, 2026 — Fortify Rights has urged President Donald Trump to prioritize the release of political and religious prisoners detained in China when he hosts Chinese leader Xi Jinping at a summit in Washington, DC this week, ahead of Xi’s September 24 visit.
In a statement issued September 22, 2026, Fortify Rights named jailed Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai, 78, and Joshua Wong; imprisoned pastors from Beijing’s Zion Church; Chinese student Tara Zhang Yadi, arrested for promoting understanding of Tibetan culture; Uyghur prisoners including scholar Dr. Ilham Tohti, Dr. Gulshan Abbas, and Ekpar Asat; human rights defenders including Dr. Wang Bingzhang; Swedish national Gui Minhai; and Myanmar-born U.S. citizen Min Zin, arrested in China in June.
“President Trump must prioritize the release of human rights defenders, prisoners of conscience, religious leaders and scholars unjustly detained in China when he receives China’s leader Xi Jinping in Washington, DC this week,” said Benedict Rogers, Senior Director at Fortify Rights. “While there will be many issues on the agenda for the bilateral summit, human rights must be central to the dialogue and President Trump must demand greater respect for freedom of religion and expression in China.”
The call follows Fortify Rights’ September 21 report documenting the continued detention of eight Zion Church pastors and leaders awaiting trial in Beihai, and a September 16 open letter to Xi Jinping urging human rights improvements ahead of the visit.
What you can do: contact U.S. officials and your representatives to ask that named prisoner cases — including Jimmy Lai, Joshua Wong, the eight detained Zion Church leaders, Dr. Gulshan Abbas, and Min Zin — be raised at the summit; share this page to keep the cases visible while the summit is underway.
Free China Movement has not independently verified the details of individual cases cited in the Fortify Rights statement; they are presented here with attribution.
Sources
- Fortify Rights, “United States: President Trump Must Seek Immediate Release of Prisoners and Prioritize Human Rights in China in Summit with Xi Jinping,” September 22, 2026
- Fortify Rights, “China: Immediately and Unconditionally Release Eight Detained Zion Church Leaders,” September 21, 2026