Hundreds of Uyghur scientists imprisoned in China, rights group says

Index on Censorship, an organization that promotes freedom of expression globally, is featuring the silencing of scientists and science around the world in the next issue of its publication. One country where scientists and intellectuals, especially those who are Uyghur, have disappeared over the years is China.
In recent years, the Uyghur rights organization Uyghur Hjelp has documented more than 200 cases of Uyghur scientists and other science professionals being imprisoned in China, according to Abduweli Ayup, founder of the Norway-based group.
Among the most prominent is Tursunjan Nurmamat, who received his graduate and postgraduate education in the United States. Nurmamat, who is from East Turkistan (Xinjiang), specialized in molecular biology and was working as a science editor when he disappeared in 2021.
In addition, he translated English nonfiction books about science and scientists into the Uyghur language. He used his well-known pen name, Bilge, for these translations, which he published on his social media accounts in China.
One of Nurmamat’s former employers, Shanghai’s Tongji University, confirmed with Radio Free Asia reporters in July 2021 that he had been arrested and had been under investigation since April that year.
In response to VOA’s request for more information, Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, wrote, “I am not aware of this specific case, thus having nothing to share. China is a law-based country, and I believe the judicial and law enforcement institutions perform their jobs in accordance with law.”
Just before Nurmamat’s arrest by Xinjiang police, he announced his new role as a science editor at Cell Press, a publisher of scientific journals headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“When I last spoke with him before his forced disappearance, he said he was ‘stuck and couldn’t leave,’ ” said a friend who is an exiled Uyghur now living in Canada. The Canadian Uyghur, along with several other exiled Uyghurs in the U.S. who knew Nurmamat before his disappearance, shared with VOA details about his situation. They expressed concerns about his well-being in Chinese custody and requested anonymity because of fears for their families in East Turkistan (Xinjiang).
Joseph Caputo, head of media and communications at Cell Press, confirmed to VOA that Nurmamat had a brief tenure at the organization but did not provide further details on his current situation.
“No one outside the Chinese government knows his current location or the length of his sentence, similar to many other cases involving Uyghur intellectuals,” Uyghur Hjelp’s Ayup told VOA in a phone interview.
Uyghur rights organizations say China has been increasing its crackdown on Turkic-speaking Uyghurs in East Turkistan (Xinjiang) since 2017 with human rights abuses that include arbitrary detention of over 1 million individuals, forced labor, sterilization of women and torture.
VOA News