A Conference on Uyghur crisis and professor Ilham Tohti
Media
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PRESS RELEASE: Seventh Anniversary of Prof. Ilham Tohti’s Verdict
Ilham Tohti Initiative e.V. PRESS RELEASE For immediate release: 10:00 CET Date: 23 September 2021 Subject: Seventh Anniversary of Prof. Ilham Tohti’s Verdict Contact: Enver Can, +491738912048, enver.can@web.de The Ilham Tohti Initiative e.V. is commemorating the seventh anniversary of Prof. Ilham Tohti’s life imprisonment with growing concern and sorrow about both mental and physical health of the Uyghur scholar. Prof. Tohti was unjustly sentenced to life in prison for “separatism” – a notion he vehemently opposed in 2014 following a two-day show trial in an Urumchi Intermediate Court. Before his imprisonment, Prof. Tohti was an economist at Nationality (Minzu) University of China and an outspoken critic of relations between Uyghurs and the Han majority. Thus, Christina Rendon from Martin Ennals Foundation says” QUOTE “… Ilham Tohti, was granted the Martin Award for human Rights Defenders in 2016, two years after he was condemned to a life behind bars. China’s Mandela has been convicted for “separatism”, while Tohti relied on pen and paper only to foster dialogue and understanding between China’s Han majority and the Muslim Uighur ethnic minority…“. UNQUOTE In an essay from 2009 focusing on Han Chinese arrogancy, Ilham Tohti wrote: “Diversity and respect and harmonious coexistence in one country is the ideal life that most Uyghurs aspire to. My hunch tells me that Uyghurs are becoming victims of ethnic politics. Some politicians are even using inter-ethnic discord and contradictions to try to divert the main conflict to achieve their ulterior motives. I am afraid that in the future they will probably stir up ethnic conflicts on the structural rocks they think, they need …. creating tragedy.” Some Uyghur observers say, that Ilham Tohti saw the signs of today’s “ethnic genocide” against Uyghur people in advance and warned the Chinese government to take precaution measures accordingly. According to Mr. Enver Can, the founding […]
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Appeal to the European Parliament to award this year’s prize to Jimmy Lai
We were in Strasbourg in December 2019 when Ilham Tohti, a Uyghur Professor sentenced to a life sentence for expressing his opinions, received the Sakharov Prize. By giving the Sakharov Prize to a Uyghur intellectual, the Parliament sent a strong signal to the world. It was a courageous move as it clearly underlined the dreadful situation of the oppressed citizens of all origins in China. We now urge the Parliament to award this year’s prize to Jimmy Lai, who is now in jail too, for having tried to protect the right to a free press in a free society. We all know how brutal and swift the crushing of any kind of dissent has been in Hong Kong in 2020. Numerous young activists, trade union members, lawyers, students have been arrested and sentenced to jail in 2021. Giving the Prize to Jimmy Lai will be a renewal of the strong message to the Chinese regime which has more and more openly violated the Universal values. Jimmy Lai is the Founder of the Apple Daily tabloid and a fierce critic of Beijing. The media tycoon has refused to leave Hong Kong in spite of the pressure increasing around him and his staff. He has been sentenced to 14 months in prison after being found guilty of “unauthorized assembly”. The truth is Jimmy Lai has always been a fierce critic of the Chinese Communist Party. That is his real “crime”. Giving the Prize to Jimmy Lai will also be a very much needed signal to the entire population of Hong Kong, who is reeling under the newly imposed National Security Law. The progress of the Chinese totalitarian is terrifying and must not be allowed to continue thus. How should the European Parliament respond to such brazen disrespect of the most obvious rights: freedom […]
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Happy Birthday to you, Ilham !
Today is the 51st Birthday of Ilham Tohti, a Uyghur Professor, winner of the Sakharov Prize, and twice Noble Peace Prize nominee. Through his writing, academic research and activities, he has campaigned for the rights of Uyghur people and challenged the Chinese authorities oppressive and apartheid policies which have developed nowadays to “China’s Uyghur Genocide”, The Chinese regime arrested him 6 years ago and and jailed him for life. Ilham, you are the Ilham (the inspiration) of Uyghur people and for everyone in the world who stands for freedom, free speech and dignity! We will never forget you. In every breath we feel your suffering inside the dark Chinese prison. We are fighting for your release and we pray for you, you will see the sun shine soon. You were born free, you don’t deserve to be imprisoned! The free world will stand with you always! Ilham Tohti Institute25th October 2020. www.ilhamtohtiinstitute.org
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Daughter of imprisoned Uighur scholar speaks out 7 years after he was arrested boarding flight to US
By Yael Halon | Fox News 23 July 2020 Jewhar Ilham and her father were preparing board their flight to the US when her father was arrested and later sentenced to life on separatism charges Watch the latest video at foxnews.com The daughter of an imprisoned Uighur scholar is on a mission to shed light on China’s human rights abuses after her father was arrested in Beijing’s International Airport and sentenced to a life behind bars on separatism charges. Jewhar Ilham told “Bill Hemmer Reports” Wednesday that her father Ilham Tohti was invited in February 2013 as a visiting scholar to Indiana University. Jewhar and her father were preparing to board their flight to the U.S. when her father was arrested. “2013, Feb. 2, was last time I saw my father at the Beijing International Airport,” Jewhar said. “He was invited by Indiana University as a visiting scholar and I was only planning to accompany him and spent three weeks as a vacation, but as a teenager, I appeared to have no threats to the government officials. I was allowed to leave the country, but my father was arrested at the airport.” US SPEAKS UP FOR MINORITY MUSLIM UIGHURS IN CHINA After being placed on house arrest for 11 months, Tohti, a well-known economics professor in Beijing, was given an unprecedented life sentence based on the writings on his website, Uyghur Online, that promoted peaceful coexistence between the Uyghur people and Han Chinese. “There are hundreds of thousands of daughters and sons just like me that can’t see their parents, cannot call their parents and cannot communicate. They don’t even know, just like me, if their parents are alive or not.” — Jewhar Ilham, ‘Bill Hemmer Reports’ “He was well-known for his peaceful suggestions and his website,” Jewhar said. “My father wanted to use this website to create understanding and to promote peaceful dialogue or coexistence between the Uighurs people and the Han Chinese.” Because many social media outlets and search engines […]
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