A Conference on Uyghur crisis and professor Ilham Tohti
Archive for June, 2020
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The Dire Consequences of the Imprisonment of Ilham Tohti
Elliot Sperling February 5, 2017 2016, the day after Ilham Tohti was nominated for the Sakharov Prize. It is published here for the first time. – Yaxue Cao The nomination last week of the imprisoned Uyghur Professor Ilham Tohti for the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is welcome recognition of the role this courageous individual has played in working for the fundamental rights of a beleaguered people, a people subject to one of the harshest regimens that China visits on any nationalities or collective groups within its borders. But the persecution of Ilham Tohti serves as an example of how China’s repressive policies create damage and danger that go far beyond its own borders. There are good reasons for international concern and outrage over Ilham Tohti’s imprisonment. On the heels of recent attacks in Europe, and concern about new ISIS-aligned actors outside the group’s core Middle East area, a recent report from the New America think-tank has revealed, among other things, that China’s treatment of its Muslim population is boosting radicalization: over 100 Turkic Uyghurs, Muslims from the region of Xinjiang in China’s northwest were recruited into ISIS response to the harsh state repression visited on them as Muslims and as Uyghurs in full disregard of common human rights norms. But the particularly harsh persecution of Ilham Tohti demonstrates a terrible dynamic in that process: the one-party Chinese state, by targeting moderates effectively nurtures extremism as the outlet for legitimate grievances over China’s policies. On January 15, 2014 Ilham Tohti was spending the afternoon resting with his two young sons in his apartment on the campus of Minzu University where he taught economics. When a large contingent of police and state security agents burst through the door, suddenly and unexpectedly, waking the napping professor, his life changed forever. […]
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Special Rapporteur on the Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti
An Urgent Communication to the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of ExpressionThe Special Rapporteur on Human Rights DefendersThe Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or PunishmentThe Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous PeoplesThe Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Regarding the Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Submitted by China Change, the Martin Ennals Foundation, and Ilham Tohti Initiative March 9, 2018 January 15, 2018, marked the 4th anniversary of the Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti’s sentencing to life in prison for peacefully speaking out for the economic, cultural, political and religious rights of the 10 million Uighur people inhabiting the northwestern region known as Xinjiang. In 2017, we have made two previous attempts to appeal to the UN Special Procedures but have not heard back. Once again, China Change in Washington, D. C., the Martin Ennals Foundation in Geneva, and the Ilham Tohti Initiative in Munich would like to bring the case and conditions of Ilham Tohti to the attention of the Special Rapporteurs listed above and the working group on arbitrary detention for an intervention. A Summary of the Case Ilham Tohti is the most renowned Uighur intellectual in the People’s Republic of China. For over two decades he has worked tirelessly to foster dialogue and understanding between Uighurs and Chinese over the present-day repressive religious, cultural and political conditions exercised against the Uighurs, a Muslim, Turkic people living mostly in modern China’s northwestern Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. As a result of his efforts he was arrested on January 15, 2014, and sentenced to life in prison in September the same year following a two-day show trial. Despite political persecution in the years leading up to his trial, he remained a voice of moderation and reconciliation. Ilham was born in 1969 in Artush, Xinjiang, and began […]
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Release Uyghur Professor Ilham Tohti, Arrested Five Years Ago
Scholars at Risk Network Jan 2019 Scholars at Risk joins 16 organizations and 125 scholars to demand the immediate release of Professor Ilham Tohti, who was arrested five years ago today for promoting dialogue and reconciliation between Uyghurs and Han Chinese. Professor Tohti is a scholar of economics at the Central Minzu University in Beijing and an advocate for the rights of Uyghurs. On January 15, 2014, police raided Professor Tohti’s home, where they seized computers, cell phones, passports, and student essays, and arrested him. After being held incommunicado in detention for months, on July 30, 2014, Professor Tohti was formally charged with separatism, on the basis of his teachings at the university and his published writings on his site, Uighur Online, which served as a platform to engage Uyghurs and Han Chinese in dialogue. On September 23, 2014, after a closed two-day trial, the Urumqi Intermediate People’s Court found Professor Tohti guilty of separatism and sentenced him to life in prison. SAR urges Chinese authorities to release Professor Tohti; to ensure that the circumstances of Professor Tohti’s arrest, detention, and conviction are examined; to ensure that any charges or convictions related to his peaceful academic activities are reversed; and that, in the interim, his access to family is ensured and his case is addressed in a manner consistent with internationally recognized standards of due process, fair trial, and detention, in accordance with China’s obligations under international law. Civil Society Calls on China to Immediately Release Uyghur ProfessorIlham Tohti Five Years After His Arrest On the five year anniversary of the arrest of Uyghur professor Ilham Tohti, civil society is calling for China to grant his immediate release and to heed calls for the release of an untold number of Uyghur scholars currently detained. Ilham Tohti, a Uyghur economist, writer and professor, […]
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Uyghur Scholar Tohti Speaks About His Concerns Before Detention
RFA 2014-02-07 Outspoken Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti gave a lengthy statement by phone to RFA’s Uyghur Service reporter Mihray Abdilim before he was detained by Chinese authorities on Jan. 15 from his Beijing home. He had requested that the statement be made public if he were taken into custody, not heard from afterward, and accused of various charges by the authorities without any right of reply. When he made the statement on July 24, 2013, he was also concerned that he would be tortured and forced to make a confession or even face the prospect of death while in custody. Tohti, who is a professor at the Central University for Nationalities in Beijing and runs the Uyghur Online website, has spoken out for greater autonomy for the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in China’s far northwest. Below is an abridged version of his statement: There is a lot of tension around here. In the past few days, I have been under constant surveillance by police vehicles and national security police officers. I have been under heavy supervision. Furthermore, anyone I have interacted with recently, regardless of ethnicity, Uyghur or Han Chinese, has had to suffer through interrogations by the government. I have realized that I don’t have too many good days ahead of me and I have a feeling that they [the Chinese government] may not have the best intentions in dealing with my situation. Therefore, I feel that it is necessary for me to leave a few words behind before I no longer have the ability to do so. Medical examination Firstly, I would like to emphasize that currently, there are no physical marks or bruises on my body. About two months ago, the school [Central University for Nationalities] performed physical examinations on all the teachers, including myself. […]