Sentenced in September 1997 to 20 years for “counter-revolutionary” offenses

According to Amnesty International, authorities in Kashgar municipality, East Turkestan, detained Nurhahmat Yusup (age at detention: 22) in July 1996 after he replaced the PRC flag in Kashgar’s People’s Square with the in China banned East Turkestan flag. During a search of Nurhahmat Yusup’s house, police reportedly found a tape of poems from a well known Uyghur poet which had been labeled as “reactionary.” Possession of the tape itself was considered an offence. Authorities charged Nurhahmat Yusup with “counter-revolutionary” offenses (though the exact charges against him are not known) and sentenced him in September 1997, despite representation by a lawyer, to 20 years in prison.

After his trial his family was allowed to visit him in prison. Amnesty International is concerned that Nurhahmat Yusup is reported to have been sentenced to a heavy term of imprisonment for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of opinion and expression.

Nurhahmat Yusup was last known to be serving his sentence at a prison within the Liu Daowan (Xinjiang No.1 prison) of Urumqi.

Sources:

Amnesty International (AI), People’s Republic of China: Gross Violations of Human Rights in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region – Prisoner Profiles, ASA 17/36/99, October 1999, available at: https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/144000/asa170181999en.pdf

U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Entry for “Nurhahmat Yusup” in Political Prisoner Database (CECC Record Number:  2010-00091), available at: http://ppdcecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=7799

[Last updated: October 2019]