The last time Buzaynap saw her husband was for Saint Valentine’s Day in 2017, when he surprised her by visiting Urumqi for some weeks, before heading back to Australia where he lives.
In March 2017, after he left, Buzaynap was taken away from her parents’ house in Urumqi. Her husband recalled the circumstances of her arrest: “the last time [I spoke with her] was on the 29th of March [2017]. She was 7-week pregnant… She was on her way to the hospital to have some checks on the pregnancy when her mum called her saying that there were police at home waiting for her. So, she went back home. From there…no news.”
According to sources, in that same year, she was sentenced to seven years imprisonment, in a secret trial and without any legal representation, and she was no longer with child. It is believed she is now held in a prison in Aksu.
Thanks to advocacy efforts by the Australian government, Buzaynap’s husband found out that Buzaynap has been charged with “assembling a crowd and disturbing social order.” However, no official documentation has yet been provided to the Australian authorities or the family.