10 years on, EU and rights groups call for Ilham Tohti’s release

Monday marked 10 years since Ilham Tohti, a prominent Uyghur political prisoner, was sentenced to life in prison by Chinese authorities. 

The anniversary prompted the European Union and human rights groups to renew calls for the release of Tohti, now 54, a former economics professor at Central University for Nationalities in Beijing. 

Tohti wrote about the systematic discrimination and oppression Uyghurs faced, supported dialogue between Uyghurs and Han Chinese and advocated for greater regional autonomy in Xinjiang, where 12 million Uyghurs live.

Authorities arrested him on Jan. 15, 2014, on accusations of promoting Uyghur independence. He was convicted on separatism-related charges and sentenced after a two-day show trial that September.

Rushan Abbas, founder and executive director of Campaign for Uyghurs, said Tohti’s ongoing imprisonment “underscores the blatant ongoing persecution, while the international community’s silence on his case represents a failure to act.”

Tohti is one of hundreds of Uyghur and other Turkic Muslim intellectual and cultural elites being held in some form of detention as part of the Chinese government’s atrocities in Xinjiang, according to a 2021 report by the Uyghur Human Rights Project.

Since his imprisonment, Tohti has received several international awards, including the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize and the Sakharov Prize, and has been nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize.

‘Unhappy anniversary’

Tohti’s imprisonment represents the ”deeply worrying human rights situation in Xinjiang,” the EU said in a statement, calling for the release of Tohti and other human rights defenders, lawyers and intellectuals arbitrarily detained in China.

It referred to U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet’s landmark 2022 report that found China’s repression of Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.” 

“The EU has repeatedly called on the government of China to respect, protect and fulfill human rights for all, including Uyghurs, Tibetans and persons belonging to national or ethnic, linguistic and religious groups and minorities in China,” the statement said.

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London-based Amnesty International urged the international community to take concrete steps to help secure Tohti’s freedom.

“This unhappy anniversary not only reminds us of Beijing’s inhumanity, it also highlights the failure of other governments to secure Ilham Tohti’s release,” said Agnes Callamard, Amnesty’s secretary general.

“The shocking milestone of his 10th year behind bars underlines the need for the international community to do more,” she said. “It is an outrage that the persecution of Uyghurs, including Ilham Tohti, continues unabated and with impunity.”

Mother’s death

Tohti is serving his sentence in a prison in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi. Authorities have banned his family from communicating with him since spring 2017.

While in prison, Tohti has been subjected to solitary confinement and to torture and other ill treatment, including denial of adequate medical care and food, as well as political indoctrination, according to Amnesty.

Tohti hasn’t been informed of the death of his mother, Nasiphan Qunahun, at 76 in early 2022, according to Uyghur Hjelp, a Norway-based nonprofit organization, also known as Uyghuryar, which documents Uyghurs who have been arrested and imprisoned.

Tohti’s mother was staying at his home in Beijing on the day he was arrested, but later returned to her hometown Atush, capital of Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang. 

“Professor Ilham Tohti brought his mother to Beijing to seek medical treatment,” said Uyghur Hjelp founder Abduweli Ayup, adding that she struggled with high blood pressure and heart issues.

A security officer at the family’s compound in Atush confirmed her death to Radio Free Asia, and said Tohti wasn’t informed about it. 

“She spent the past decade worrying about what was going to happen to her lovely children and grandchildren, and never had a peaceful day,” said Tohti’s daughter, Jewher Ilham, who lives in the United States and has campaigned for his release. 

“In the end, the worries lead to illness, and it consumed the last bits of her energy,” she said.

Edited by Malcolm Foster.