It turns out that Uyghur teacher Sitifaldi Karim, was sentenced to 19 years in prison for participating in studies on books of Uyghur literature.
Sitivaldi Karim, who teaches at a secondary school in the city of Atush in East Turkistan, has worked with a group of academics and teachers specializing in Uyghur language and literature under the leadership of the so-called Minister of Education of Xinjiang, Sattar Sawot, for a project of Uyghur literature books for middle and high school students.
Sitivaldi Karim, 52, who wrote his own book titled “My New Class” based on his experiences in class while teaching the subjects in textbooks at Atoş High School No. 1 in Kyzylsoo Province, has also written stories for Kyzylssu literature, and has given public speeches on the importance and methods of literature and artistic events, he is known to be a teacher with an energetic and social spirit.
Uyghur intellectuals were arrested in 2017
A few days before his 2017 retirement, Sitivaldi Karim was confirmed arrested by Chinese police and sentenced to 19 years in prison, on the pretext that he "includes in his books themes promoting separatism," during widespread arbitrary arrests that began across East Turkistan, Radio Free Asia reported. (RFA).
He was sentenced to a long prison term
At that time, while intellectuals such as the famous writer Yalqun Rozi, the publisher Wahid Jan Osman, Sattar Sawut, Alim Jan Muhammad Amin, Tahir Nasir, and Abdul Razzaq Saim were preparing Uyghur language and literature books for kindergarten children in East Turkistan, they prepared a collection of stories of Uyghur heroes. People and works that raise national thought, patriotism, customs and family upbringing. As a result, they were sentenced to long prison terms on charges such as “attempting to recruit members of a terrorist organization,” “threaten national security,” “separatism,” and “element associated with the terrorist organization.”