World Uyghur Congress Calls for Release of Ilham Tohti

On the 10th anniversary of the arrest of the renowned Uyghur economist Ilham Tohti by the Chinese authorities, the World Uyghur Congress calls for renewed attention to his case, advocating for his immediate release, as well as the release of countless Uyghur intellectuals and scholars currently detained.
Professor Tohti, who diligently worked for two decades fostering dialogue and conciliation between Uyghurs and Han Chinese, was given a life sentence in September 2014 on fabricated charges following a two-day trial. Tohti was initially arrested in January 2014 and subsequently convicted of “inciting separatism” in a trial described as “a farce” by the PEN American Center. Amnesty International called the sentence “deplorable” with “no basis in reality,” and Human Rights Watch stated that his trial amounted to “an injustice of the highest order.” Tohti’s appeal was subsequently denied in November 2014.
More than 300 cases of Uyghur intellectuals and other Turkic cultural scholars, who have been detained, imprisoned, or forcibly disappeared, have been documented since 2016, according to the Uyghur Human Rights Project. In recent years, some of these cases have received wide coverage in the international press. UN Special Rapporteurs have also expressed alarm at the situations of Tashpolat Tiyip, Ilham Tohti, Yalqun Rozi and more recently of Qurban Mamut, Ekpar Asat and Gulshan Abbas. In September of 2023, the news of the life imprisonment of Uyghur scholar Dr. Rahile Dawut once again brought the global community’s attention to the plight of Uyghur scholars and intellectuals.
https://www.uyghurcongress.org/