Uyghur businessman sentenced to 18 years in prison for distributing zakat

AliJan Ismail, owner of the Friendship Biotechnology Company, was detained in detention camps in 2017 and sent to prison in 2018 on several charges, including “illegal travel” and “illegal charity work.” During our correspondent’s contacts with Chinese officials, he learned that he was accused of threatening “national security” and sentenced to 18 years in prison for distributing zakat money to more than 10,000 people, including families of political prisoners. According to a person familiar with the situation, Alijan Ismail was one of the Uyghur businessmen who rose to prominence in Urumqi, the capital of China-occupied East Turkistan, which it calls “Xinjiang,” in the 2000s. He is the owner of the Friendship Biotechnology Company, and was arrested after returning from Kazakhstan in 2017.
Alijan Ismail was once accused of “separatism” while studying inside China in the late 1990s, which led to his being placed on a “blacklist” among former prisoners when the mass arrests began in 2017. His trip to Kazakhstan aroused suspicion among the police, who were closely monitoring him.
Alijan Ismail, who was forced during interrogation to provide a detailed account of every move he made abroad and every person he met, relatively escaped the questioning of the foreign trip, but the questioning about his charitable work in East Turkistan, especially in Kashgar and Urumqi, heightened suspicions about him, and he could not find a way out.
Abduweli Ayub, an activist based in Norway, also received information that Alijan Ismail was in captivity.
According to a person familiar with the situation, he started his business in Maralbashi in 2000 and moved the company to Urumqi in 2008. Alijan, who had been paying zakat from his company since he started his business, made friends with a group of young businessmen like himself while working in Urumqi, and urged them to also pay zakat from their companies, especially to help people who were unable to pay for their treatment in Urumqi hospitals.
During the interrogation, this group of his friends was considered a “separatist group,” and their activities were investigated, especially the identity of those who received assistance from them. The Maralbashi District Mayor’s Office and the Maralbashi City Police Department also participated in the investigation. The city police officer who took our call revealed that, as a result of the investigation into Alijan Ismail, it was found that he was involved in collecting and distributing money “illegally.” He said that Ali Jan Ismail and his friends have given zakat to more than 10,000 people since 2014. We have previously reported in our investigations that zakat is forbidden in East Turkistan, and any amount of money must be approved by the relevant authorities before it is given to anyone. The police said that at the end of 2017, about 20 of Ali Jan Ismail’s friends were arrested, and none of them have been released.
A person familiar with the situation said that Ali Jan Ismail was particularly cautious about getting involved in public affairs due to the size of his business and his political and security history. He considered charity work relatively safe and tried to do his national duty in this regard. But after the zakat ban in 2016, and especially after the widespread crackdown and arrests in 2017, his previous cautious steps turned into risky moves, and he was imprisoned and sentenced when he was approaching his forties and his business star was rising.
Abdul Wali Ayub said: Ali Jan Ismail was sentenced in mid or late 2018.
A security director in the town of Maralbeshi confirmed that Ali Jan Ismail was sentenced to 18 years in prison on charges of "distributing funds collected illegally."
From the above information, it is known that AliJan Ismail was sentenced to 18 years in prison, but nothing is known about his 20 businessmen friends who were arrested with him or the number of years they were sentenced to.
Source: Radio Free Asia.