Mon Sep 23 22:00:00 UTC 2024: ## Uyghur Economist and Sakharov Prize Winner Ilham Tohti Remains in Solitary Confinement on 10th Anniversary of Sentence
**New York, October 27, 2023** – Human Rights Watch is calling for the immediate release of Ilham Tohti, a prominent Uyghur economist and government critic, on the 10th anniversary of his sentencing. Tohti was convicted of “separatism” in 2014 and sentenced to life imprisonment by the Xinjiang People’s High Court. His family has been denied visits since 2017, and he is believed to be in solitary confinement.
“The life sentence for Ilham Tohti marked the beginning of the Chinese government’s severe crackdown on the Uyghur region in 2014,” said Maya Wang, associate China director at Human Rights Watch. “Tohti’s life imprisonment for his peaceful criticism and torturous solitary confinement reflect the Chinese government’s heightened repression and relentless abuses against Uyghurs.”
Tohti, 54, was a professor at Central University of Nationalities of China and founded “Uighurs Online,” a website promoting dialogue between Uyghurs and Han Chinese, in 2005. The website was shut down in 2008, and the manager, Gheyret Niyaz, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for “endangering state security” in 2010.
Since 2016, China has intensified its repression in Xinjiang, subjecting Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims to mass detention, forced labor, family separation, and torture. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has concluded that these abuses “may constitute … crimes against humanity.”
Tohti received the European Parliament Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2019. On the anniversary of his imprisonment, the European Union called for his immediate and unconditional release, along with other human rights defenders, lawyers, and intellectuals arbitrarily detained in China.
The Chinese government’s crackdown has seen the imprisonment of hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs, including intellectuals, scholars, and writers. Among them are Gulshan Abbas, sentenced to 20 years in prison, Rahile Dawut, sentenced to life, Yalqun Rozi, sentenced to 15 years, and Abduqadir Jalalidin, sentenced to 13 years.
Human Rights Watch is urging foreign governments to counter China’s denials of abuses in Xinjiang and demand the release of Tohti and others. The organization also calls for the UN Human Rights office to issue a comprehensive report on the situation in Xinjiang and establish a plan to hold the Chinese government accountable for its actions.
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