September 23 marks the tenth anniversary of prominent Uyghur economist Ilham Tohti being sentenced to life in prison on unsubstantiated charges of “separatism” for his work advocating for better treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang and promoting mutual understanding between Han Chinese and Uyghur citizens in China. The unusually harsh sentencing was seen as an attempt to silence China’s highest-profile Uyghur intellectual, a scholarly authority and voice of moderation. In 2014, a court in Urumqi rejected Ilham Tohti’s appeal; seven of his former students were also tried for separatism. There have been reports that Ilham Tohti has been mistreated during his imprisonment, but information on his condition has been scant since his family last saw him in 2013, and since he became incommunicado in 2017. On this anniversary, numerous governments, experts, and international human rights groups have released statements and petitions advocating for intensified international diplomatic efforts to secure Ilham Tohti’s release.
A new petition from Amnesty International called on the Chinese government to “end a decade of injustice” by releasing Ilham Tohti. A statement from Agnes Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, noted that before his arrest, Ilham Tohti consistently opposed violence and separatism and worked to build bridges between ethnic communities in accordance with Chinese laws. (In 2019, while imprisoned, he was awarded the Sakharov Prize, the European Parliament’s top human rights prize.) Callamard’s statement also described Ilham Tohti’s mistreatment in prison and the pressure that the Chinese government has attempted to exert on his family:
During his imprisonment, Ilham Tohti has reportedly been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, including wrist and ankle shackling, prolonged solitary confinement and denial of adequate medical care and food, as well as political indoctrination.
His daughter, Jewher Ilham, has campaigned tirelessly for his release. She told Amnesty International that Chinese authorities have attempted to silence her by offering her conditional contact with him in exchange for her stopping her public advocacy on his case.
[…] “It is an outrage that the persecution of Uyghurs including Ilham Tohti continues unabated, and with impunity,” Agnes Callamard said.
“Since the Chinese authorities show no signs of relenting, the onus is on world leaders to ramp up pressure on Beijing – including at the UN – to end all discrimination and arbitrary detention of certain ethnic groups and hold perpetrators of violations accountable.” [Source]
A statement from the Delegation of the European Union to the People’s Republic of China called for the release of Ilham Tohti and others who have been unjustly and arbitrarily detained in China:
The imprisonment of Ilham Tohti is representative of the deeply worrying human rights situation in Xinjiang that was highlighted in numerous reports by UN Treaty Bodies and Special Rapporteurs, and in particular the 2022 assessment report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The EU has repeatedly called on the government of China to respect, protect and fulfil human rights for all, including Uyghurs, Tibetans and persons belonging to national or ethnic, linguistic and religious groups and minorities in China.
The EU reiterates its calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Ilham Tohti and other human rights defenders, lawyers and intellectuals who are arbitrarily detained in China. [Source]
According to a recent translation of an RFA Uyghur article by Shohret Hoshur and Mamatjan Juma, a Uyghur prison guard named Gopur Abdurreshit was arrested in February of this year and sentenced to seven years in prison for revealing information about the condition of Ilham Tohti during his imprisonment:
Abdurreshit, who worked at Prison No. 1 in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi, oversaw Tohti for six years, said Abduweli Ayup, founder of Uyghur Hjelp, a Norway-based nonprofit organization, also known as Uyghuryar, that documents Uyghurs who have been arrested and imprisoned.
During that time, he revealed information about Tohti’s condition to others, including details of his solitary confinement, his limited exposure to sunlight for just 15 minutes per week, and news about his deteriorating health, Ayup said.
“Gopur communicated information about Ilham Tohti’s deteriorating health, including his white hair,” Ayup said.
[…] A prison supervisor declined to answer questions about Abdureshit, but said there was an ongoing discussion about “not sharing secrets and learning from his mistakes.” [Source]
The U.S. Department of State released a statement marking the tenth anniversary of Ilham Tohti’s detention, in which it called on the Chinese government “to respect the human dignity of members of ethnic and religious minority groups and to immediately and unconditionally release [Ilham] Tohti and all those arbitrarily detained in Xinjiang and throughout all of China.” On January 15 of this year, the tenth anniversary of Ilham Tohti’s arrest, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom issued a timeline of his arrest, trial, and imprisonment, and a list of related meetings, statements, and diplomatic efforts. ChinaChange.org features an extensive collection of Ilham Tohti’s writings and articles about him, including 2024’s “Ilham, My Brother,” and a 2023 long-form piece looking back at his life and work.
Another recent piece, “Thoughts on Ilham Tohti’s arrest in 2014,” was written by Marie Holzman and published in both Chinese and English in the online human-rights journal Diyin. (CDT has, with the author’s permission, republished the entire article here.) Holzman quotes extensively from Ilham Tohti’s writings throughout the years, and mentions his work alongside the work of other rights defenders and prisoners of conscience: “I am quoting these names so the readers understand how vital, how necessary it is to keep the names of these courageous Human Rights defenders alive when they sink into these pitch black holes of oblivion.”
