10 Uyghur teens sentenced to 10 and 20 years in prison Crimes: Studying in Turkey

According to RFA's report, confirmed by Norwegian activist Abduvali Ayup based on his Twitter message, 10 young Uyghur youths such as Nihat Nicat, Ankar, Zuyar Yasin, Sübhi Tursun, Rahmancan, Ahtemcan, Faruk Rehim, Sübhi Mardan and Alimcan Abdukerim, who returned to East Turkistan after studying in Turkey, were arrested in East Turkistan at the end of last year and were unlawfully prosecuted in January this year.  Family members of the teens were also unable to attend any hearing, and six months later their parents were informed that they had been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 10 to 20 years.

One of them, Zulyar Yassin, the son of Rahile Jalaluddin who was confirmed to have been arrested by the Urumqi State Security Police on July 22, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, and the police officer who answered the RFA reporter's phone refused to provide information about Zulyar Yassin, who was registered in his district.

It turned out that the young people stayed at the "Fatih University Dormitory for Boys" in Istanbul and returned to their hometowns around 2016 upon the invitation of their families.

The young people also avoided all political activities during their stay in Istanbul, fearing that China would put pressure on their families in East Turkistan, and they did not even go to regions where Uyghurs live in the majority, such as Zeytinburnu and Sefaköy, and they did not even set foot in Uyghur restaurants, the report said, adding that in China's large-scale arrest launched in 2017, young people, including Alimcan Abdukerim, were arrested and stayed in the camp for two years. Zulyar Yassin and the others were not arrested because they were under 18 at the time, and all were reportedly arrested at the end of last year on charges of "receiving terrorist training in Turkey."

According to the report, an officer from the Urumqi God Mountain Region Police Department also refused to answer RFA reporter's questions about the convictions. According to a person who did not want to be named, the defendants were allegedly charged with "separatism" and "terrorism" in court. And this unlawful Decision was made by the Political Legal Committee of the Urumqi City Party Committee and was communicated orally to the families through lawyers. The families of the convicts were not provided with any written documents, but even their legal requests in this regard were strongly rejected.

Abduwali Ayup stated that the case was a fabrication, that the reasons and facts given in the "crime" presented in court were contradictory and indefensible, so the authorities could not even issue an official verdict to the family members of the convicted youths.

Noting that the number of people in the community has decreased since the start of the major arrest in 2017, but the repression and unlawful arrests have not decreased, Abduwali Ayup points out that this case was concocted only to complete the task and fill the number, and that there are countless such fabricated cases.