A Conference on Uyghur crisis and professor Ilham Tohti
Archive for September, 2020
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Uyghur Scholar’s Release Sought [Archive]
RFA 2009-07-14 A Chinese writer petitions for the release of a prominent Uyghur economist detained after riots in China’s ethnically divided northwest. WASHINGTON—Chinese writer Wang Lixiong and his wife, the Tibetan writer Woeser, have launched an online campaign calling for the release of Uyghur economist Ilham Tohti. Tohti, a professor at Beijing’s Central Nationalities University, went missing after he reported police had summoned him from his Beijing home following July 5 riots in Urumqi, capital of China’s northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Beijing-based Wang Lixiong is best known for his novel Tian Zang (Sky Burial), in which he explores the issue of Tibet from a perspective different from that officially espoused by the Chinese government. Wang published his petition for Ilham Tohti on the Internet July 12, and within 24 hours had collected 158 cyber signatures endorsing his appeal, most of them from Han Chinese. By Tuesday, the number of supporters had reached more than 250. Blog targeted Tohti, an outspoken economist from China’s largely Muslim Uyghur ethnic minority, was targeted by police after his blog, Uyghur Online, was cited for allegedly instigating deadly ethnic clashes in Xinjiang. Tohti told RFA’s Uyghur service that police had been surveying his home in a telephone interview on July 7, two days after deadly clashes in the northwestern city of Urumqi killed at least 184 people. “They are calling me now, and I have to go. I may be out of touch for some time,” he said. “I wasn’t involved in anything, but I am not safe. The police are calling me,” Tohti said before hanging up. Subsequent phone calls rang unanswered. On July 6, he told RFA’s Cantonese service that he had gathered information on the clashes but wouldn’t release it because the timing was sensitive. Tohti’s blog, Uyghur Online, publishes in Chinese and Uyghur […]