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FREE ILHAM TOHTI

 

My ideals and the career path

I was born in 1969 into a Uighur family in Atush City, Kizilsu Kirghiz Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR). I grew up in a government employee residential compound where Uighurs and Hans lived together. My grandfather’s generation was illiterate, but ...[Full text]
 

A Conference on Uyghur crisis and professor Ilham Tohti

Two days before announce the European “Václav Havel Human Rights Prize” 2019,  a “Conference on Uyghur crisis and professor Ilham Tohti” held in Utrich, Netherland, organised by Ilham Tohti Institute … [Full]
 

Interview With Ilham Tohti by Tsering Woeser on 1st Nov 2009

 

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Post Tagged with: "Ilham Tohti Awards"

 
  • European Parliament Conference Launches Ilham Tohti’s Candidature for Sakharov Prize

    On 25 May 2016, activists and specialists convened in the European Parliament to answer the question “Does China Want Real Ethnic Harmony?” The conference focused on the unjust imprisonment for life of Professor Ilham Tohti, a renowned Uyghur economist and writer. The conference, organised by the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) in conjunction with the newly founded Ilham Tohti Initiative (ITI), the Society forThreatened Peoples and chinachange.org, further discussed how Ilham Tohti’s story mirrorsthe plight of the Uyghur People.  Tohti’s peaceful approach to the plight of his people has been moderate, dignified and focused on conciliation rather than separation, as was evident in both the speeches dedicated to the man and his life’s work, and in their drive to gain recognitionand freedom for Tohti through his candidacy for the European Union’s 2016 Sakharov Prizefor Freedom of Thought.  The conference was opened by the hosting MEP, Mr Ilhan Kyuchyuk (ALDE), who, after discussing the parallels between the efforts in Bulgaria to persuade ethnic minorities to work together, gave the floor over to a number of experts on the situation of the Uyghur people and Ilham Tohti himself. As the first to take the floor, Professor Dru C. Gladney (Pomona College) gave a general overview of the situation in China and in East Turkestan (Xinjang) in particular, where the majority  of the Uyghur population is based.  He surmised that the problems and instances of conflict between ethnic groups that have become more frequent over the last few years could probably be attributed to the huge influx of Han Chinese to the region – a flow that has not been regulated, but rather encouraged by the Chinese government. Also picking up on this theory, Dr Vanessa Frangville (ULB) pointed out that over the last two decades the democratic shift in the region, triggered […]

     
  • Ilham Thoti: Martin Ennals Award Ceremony 2016

    The finalists for the Martin Ennals Award 2016 were Razan Zaitouneh (Syria), Ilham Tohti (China) and Zone 9 Bloggers. A jury of 10 of the world’s leading human rights NGOs selected Ilham Tohti as the 2016 Laureate.

     
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  • Sakharov Prize: Jailed Uighur academic Ilham Tohti wins award

    BBC News 24 October 2019 An academic jailed for separatism in China has been awarded the European Parliament’s top human rights prize. Ilham Tohti, who is from the Uighur minority, has been a fierce critic of China’s treatment of the Uighur people. He was jailed for life in 2014. More than a million Uighurs and other ethnic minorities are reported to have been held in camps in China’s restive Xinjiang region. Mr Tohti, seen by many as a moderate voice, has denied being a separatist. Although still in jail, Mr Tohti, 49, has been recognised for drawing attention to ethnic tensions in Xinjiang. A ceremony awarding him the Sakharov Prize in his absence will be held in Strasbourg in December. The Uighur geography teacher who vanished in China The vanished Uighurs of Xinjiang China’s Muslim ‘crackdown’ explained China had accused him of separatism and stoking ethnic tensions. The economics scholar’s imprisonment provoked condemnation from human rights groups, with the UN, the EU and US calling for his release. The EU Parliament said Mr Tohti deserved the Sakharov Prize for his attempts to “foster dialogue” between Chinese people and the Uighur. “The parliament calls on the Chinese authorities to release him immediately,” EU Parliament President David Sassoli said. The Sakharov Prize for free speech is awarded by the EU Parliament annually in memory of Soviet physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov. Other nominees for the 2019 prize included Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, prominent Brazilian gay rights activist Jean Wyllys and the Restorers, a group of student app developers from Kenya. Previous winners have included Pakistani schoolgirl and campaigner Malala Yousafzai (2013), Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas (2010) and two Yazidi women who escaped Islamic State (2016). Who is Ilham Tohti? Born in the city of Artush in Xinjiang, Mr Tohti is an […]

     
  • Sakharov Prize: daughter of 2019 laureate Ilham Tohti receives prize on his behalf

    EU affairs  Updated:  19-12-2019 Jewher Ilham (left) receiving the award from Parliament President David Sassoli   Ilham Tohti’s daughter Jewher Ilham accepted the 2019 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought on 18 December on behalf of her jailed father. Ilham Tohti, a Uyghur scholar fighting for the rights of China’s Muslim Uyghur minority, has been in jail since 2014 on separatism-related charges. Presenting the award, Parlimaent President David Sassoli said: “Ilham Tohti, with his activism, managed to give a voice to the Uyghurs. […] He has been working for 20 years to promote dialogue and mutual understanding between them and other Chinese people. “Today should be a moment of joy, to celebrate freedom of speech. Instead, it is a day of sadness. Once again, this chair is empty, because in the world we are living, exercising our freedom of thought does not always mean being free.” Accepting the award during the ceremony in Strasbourg, Jewher Ilham said: “It is an honour to be at the European Parliament today to accept the Sakharov Prize on behalf of my father. I am grateful for the opportunity to tell his story, because he cannot tell it himself. To be honest with you, I do not know where my father is. 2017 was the last time my family received word about him. “Today, there is no freedom for Uyghurs in China… Not at school, not in public, not even in private homes. My father, like most Uyghurs, has been labelled a violent extremist, with a disease that needs to be cured and a mind that needs to be washed.. It is under this false label of extremism that the government has put one million people – probably more – into ‘concentration camps’ where Uyghurs are forced to give up their religion, language and culture, […]

     
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  • Ilham Tohti Deserves to be a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

     
  • Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize awarded to Ilham Tohti