Presumed Released

Sentenced in February 2005 to 15 years of prison for “inciting Uyghur separatism, inciting racial hatred or discrimination”.

According to Radio Free Asia, authorities in East Turkestan detained Nurmuhemmet Yasin (age at detention: 31) on 29 November 2004, after the Kashgar Literature Journal published his story “Wild Pigeon” in late 2004. The story tells of a caged bird who commits suicide rather than live without freedom. According to Dui Hua, on 2 February 2005, the Bachu (Maralweshi) County People’s Court sentenced Nurmuhemmet Yasin to 10 years’ imprisonment for “inciting racial hatred or discrimination,” a crime under Article 249 of the Criminal Law. Some sources have reported that the sentence was for “inciting splittism,” a crime under Article 103 of the Criminal Law.

On 14 July 2005, the same court sentenced Korash Huseyin, editor of the Kashgar Literature Journal, to three years’ imprisonment for “dereliction of duty” for publishing Nurmuhemmet Yasin’s story (Korash Huseyin was released in 2008).

The Kashgar Intermediate People’s Court upheld Nurmuhemmet Yasin’s sentence on appeal on 17 March 2005.

According to information reported in a March 17 Radio Free Asia (RFA) article, prison authorities have taken repercussions against imprisoned writer Nurmemet (Nurmuhemmet) Yasin since he met with UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak in late 2005 and reported mistreatment to Nowak. According to the RFA article, authorities have reduced Nurmuhemmet Yasin’s family visits from every two months to twice a year and have restricted Nurmuhemmet Yasin’s activities within prison as punishment for having not “reformed his views.”

He is currently held at Xinjiang No. 1 Prison.

Sources:

Radio Free Asia, Yazghuchi nurmuhemmet yasingha ‘ idiyisini yaxshi özgertmigenlik’ sewebi bilen jaza bérilgen, 17 March 2009, available at: http://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/tepsili_xewer/nurmemet-yasin-yawa-kepter-03182009023521.html?encoding=latin

U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Entry for “Nurmuhemmet Yasin” in Political Prisoner Database (CECC Record Number:  2005-00018), available at: http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=5511

Uyghur PEN, Biography of Nurmuhemmet Yasin, available at: http://www.uyghurpen.org/author-biography.html

[Last updated: October 2011]