A Conference on Uyghur crisis and professor Ilham Tohti
Post Tagged with: "Timeline of Ilham Tohti’s Case"
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Timeline of Ilham Tohti’s Case
Human Rights Watch September 15, 2014 Late 2005 Living in Beijing and teaching at Beijing’s Minzu University of China, Ilham Tohti establishes “Uighur Online,” a website published in Chinese and Uighur “to provide Uighurs and Hans with a platform for discussion and exchange.” The website serves as a platform for Uighur social and cultural issues, as well as Chinese policies in Xinjiang. Authorities periodically shut the website down. 2008 May 15 Uighur Online is permanently shut down by the government. 2009 March 06 In his interview with Radio Free Asia (RFA), Tohti criticizes Chinese policies in Xinjiang. He questions the central government’s policy of encouraging Han people to move to Xinjiang where the unemployment rate among Uighurs remained high. Tohti also refers to the then-governor of Xinjiang as “unqualified.” March 26 Tohti is interrogated by the police, who tell him not to speak to the media again. July 07 Tohti goes missing after the July 5th violence in Urumqi. Tohti is later found to have been detained by Chinese authorities for posting materials on his website that they allege “stirred up” the ethnic clashes. 2010 July 25 Manager of Uighur Online, Gheyrat Niyaz, was sentenced to 15 years for “endangering state security”. 2011 January 17 Ilham Tohti publishes an article, “My Ideals and the Career Path I Have Chosen”《我的理想和事业选择之路》, explaining that his reason for launching the website was to promote “mutual understanding as well as dialogue among ethnic communities.” Tohti writes that the website contained no “pro-independence, separatist, or irresponsible inflammatory postings” nor “anything subversive.” September Beijing’s Minzu University of China cancels Tohti’s class on economic development, immigration, and discrimination in Xinjiang. 2012 August Tohti is interrogated for 10 hours after speaking to journalists and publishing an article on Uighur Online about Chinese armed forces monitoring Uighurs during Ramadan. October-November Tohti is held under house arrest ahead of the Chinese leadership change during the 18th Party Congress. 2013 February 02 Chinese […]