Press Release – For immediate release
26 February 2014
Contact: World Uyghur Congress www.uyghurcongress.org
0049 (0) 89 5432 1999 or [email protected]

The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) condemns the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for charging Ilham Tohti, a prominent Uyghur professor of economics, with inciting separatism in China. The WUC calls on the international community, rights groups and democratic governments to take action decisively in this matter and pressure the Chinese government to free Mr. Tohti and other political prisoners. The charge of separatism is a crime that can carry the death penalty according to China’s criminal laws.

On Tuesday, February 25th, news agencies reported that Ilham Tohti’s wife, Guzaili Nu’er, received an arrest warrant and notice of the separatist charges against her husband. Mr. Tohti was detained last month and officials in Beijing and Urumchi have not yet provided information about his whereabouts and the nature of the investigation. However, the state-owned and state-sponsored media in China launched an attack against Mr. Tohti, accusing him of inciting ethnic hatred and organizing criminal gangs during and after the July 9th incidents in Urumchi. It is clear that the Chinese government launched a PR campaign to identify a well-known and respected scholar and outspoken critic of Chinese government with separatism and ethnic conflict before charging him with these crimes. During this period, he was even accused of having connections to violent groups by some Chinese media outlets. After receiving notification, Guzaili Nu’er told Reuters that the charges were “ridiculous” and Mr. Tohti was simply doing his job as a teacher at the university. Mr. Tohti’s lawyer, Li Fangping, said he had been denied access to meet his client. The charges against Ilham Tohti created major concerns among international rights activists, as the charge of separatism can carry harsh penalties.

Following the release of the news, the president of the WUC, Rebiya Kadeer, who had previously experienced the same form of detention and spent years in prison, said, “This is not the first time authorities in China are adopting this method in order to suppress any form of peaceful opposition in China. And it looks like it will not be the last time. [The] international community needs to understand the deteriorating situation in East Turkistan and the lack of willingness on the part of China to improve the situation in the region. I went through similar things years ago and since then, despite some rumbling about political reform, things are getting worse..”

Since the detention of Ilham Tohti, the WUC has urged the international community to monitor developments in this case, as it reflects a well-known pattern that Beijing adopted to suppress independent and critical voices in China. This pattern has been obvious in the detention of Uyghur intellectuals for many years now. Many prominent Uyghur authors, poets, intellectuals, historians, web bloggers, and businessmen and businesswomen such as Abduweli Ayup, Muhammad Sidiq and Dilyar Obul have been detained by Chinese authorities, accused of inciting separatism and given long prison sentences. Particularly since 2001, the definition of separatism and terrorism has been overstretched in order to include any form of dissent against the authoritarian and repressive rule of China in East Turkistan. Even peaceful criticism became a criminal act. Although Mr. Tohti never used rhetoric that could be considered criminal and categorized under the charge of separatism in his public addresses, lectures and interviews, the authorities nonetheless brought charges against him by once again broadening the definition of these crimes.

The WUC condemns this recent development and calls on the international community, rights advocates and Western governments to pressure the authorities in China to respect universal human rights and immediately release all political prisoners who were detained and arrested because of their critical views. The US and the EU already stated their concerns about Mr. Tohti’s detention, but they need to keep the issue on the agenda during their meetings with the Chinese authorities in the coming days. The recent developments in China are signaling another major “strike hard” campaign against basic freedoms of speech and expression. The international community must stand on the side of personal liberties at this critical juncture.