Ilham Tohti -

Ilham Tohti: An Activist Smiling in the Face of Injustice (Urdu)

الہام توہتی،* بیجنگ منزو یونیورسٹی میں ایغور نسل کے سابق معاشیات کے پروفیسر، جنہیں حال ہی میں گارڈین نے ‘چین کا منڈیلا’ کہا ہے، کو 14 جنوری 2014 کو علیحدگی پسندی، نسلی منافرت کو ہوا دینے اور دہشت گردانہ سرگرمیوں کی حمایت کرنے کے الزام میں حراست میں لیا گیا تھا۔ چینی حکومتی پالیسیوں پر کھلی تنقید۔ اس کی گرفتاری کے بعد، 17 اور 18 ستمبر 2014 کے درمیان دو روزہ شو ٹرائل، جس کی وجہ سے اس کی مذمت اور عمر قید کی سزا ہوئی، بہت سے غیر ملکیوں کے ساتھ ساتھ ملکی مبصرین، دوستوں اور تنظیموں کے لیے ایک بڑا صدمہ تھا جنہوں نے الہام کی حمایت کی۔ اقلیتی ایغوروں کی خودمختاری، لسانی، ثقافتی اور مذہبی حقوق کا دفاع کرنے کے لیے ان کی نمایاں، دھمکی آمیز اور سب سے اہم سرگرمی۔ اویغور ترک زبان بولنے والے اور عام طور پر مسلم گروہ ہیں، جو زیادہ تر سنکیانگ ایغور خود مختار علاقے (اب سے XUAR) میں آباد ہیں۔ الہام کو ‘اویغور لوگوں کا ضمیر’ کہا جاتا ہے۔

Background

الہام کی سرگرمی 1994 میں اس وقت شروع ہوئی جب اس نے XUAR میں ایغوروں کی طرف سے ہونے والی خلاف ورزیوں کے بارے میں لکھنا شروع کیا۔ 2006 میں، اس نے آن لائن توجہ اس وقت مبذول کرائی جب اس نے اور دیگر اسکالرز نے uighurbiz.org پر ویب سائیٹ ‘Uyghur Online’ کی مشترکہ بنیاد رکھی۔ یہ ویب سائٹ چینی زبان کا پلیٹ فارم تھا جو ایغور اقلیت اور ہان چینیوں کے درمیان جاری تقسیم کو ختم کرنے کی کوشش کرتا تھا۔ پلیٹ فارم نے بنیادی طور پر ایک جگہ کے طور پر کام کیا جس پر الہام ایغور آواز کو ملکی اور بین الاقوامی سطح پر سنا سکتا تھا۔ اس میں یہ بتایا گیا کہ کس طرح اویغوروں کی حالت زار میں یہ محسوس ہوتا ہے کہ وہ کس طرح عام معاشرے کی طرف سے حقارت کی نگاہ سے دیکھتے ہیں اور چینی حکومت نے سماجی و اقتصادی ترقی کے حوالے سے انہیں بھلا دیا ہے۔ الہام ہان کو ایک کھلے، پرامن اور عقلی پلیٹ فارم پر مدعو کرے گا تاکہ ان کے مختلف خیالات پر بحث اور بحث کی جا سکے کیونکہ، جیسا کہ اس نے زور دیا، ہان ایغوروں کے دشمن نہیں تھے، باوجود اس کے کہ ان کے ساتھ امتیازی اور اکثر متشدد رویہ اختیار کیا جاتا ہے۔

اپنی ویب سائٹ کے ذریعے، الہام نے ایک پرامن اور جامع نقطہ نظر کو فروغ دیا اور کبھی بھی تشدد کو اکسایا یا اس کی حوصلہ افزائی نہیں کی۔ وہ حکومتی قوانین یا شہری معاشرے میں موجود بنیادی معاہدوں سے تصادم کے بارے میں محتاط تھا۔ تاہم، ویب سائٹ نے چینی حکومت کے غصے کو اپنی طرف متوجہ کرنا شروع کر دیا، جس نے پہلی بار جون 2008 میں چین کے اولمپک گیمز کی میزبانی سے قبل ویب سائٹ کو بند کر دیا۔ حکومت نے بند کی وجہ اس بنیاد پر دی کہ اس نے بیرون ملک مقیم نام نہاد اویغور انتہا پسندوں سے روابط کو عام کیا۔ XUAR کے دارالحکومت ارومچی میں بڑے نسلی فسادات، اور 5 جولائی 2009 کو اسلام کے زیادہ جارحانہ مطالعہ سے متاثر دہشت گردانہ حملوں کے نتیجے میں تقریباً 200 لوگ مارے گئے، 18,000 کو حراست میں لیا گیا، اور 34 سے 37 کے درمیان لاپتہ ہوئے۔ اس کے بعد الہام نے اس واقعے کے بارے میں کھل کر بات کی اور غائب رہنے والوں کے نام اور چہرے شائع کیے، جس کے نتیجے میں اسے 14 جولائی کو تقریباً پانچ ہفتوں تک گھر میں نظربند رکھا گیا اور بعد ازاں بین الاقوامی دباؤ کے بعد اسے رہا کر دیا گیا۔

ایک اور اہم لمحہ اس وقت آیا جب الہام اور اس کی بیٹی، جیور، امریکہ جانے والی فلائٹ میں سوار ہونے کے لیے ہوائی اڈے پر تھے کیونکہ الہام کو انڈیانا یونیورسٹی میں بطور وزٹنگ اسکالر پوزیشن لینا تھی۔ اسے حکام نے روکا، مارا پیٹا، حراست میں لیا اور جیور کو اکیلے امریکہ جانے والی پرواز میں دیکھا۔ اس واقعے نے الہام کی کہانی کے عروج کو نشان زد کیا۔ اکتوبر 2013 میں، ایک اویغور خاندان نے اپنی جیپ کو تیانان مین اسکوائر کے جنگشوئی پل پر ٹکر مار دی تھی، جس میں آگ لگ گئی تھی۔ چینی حکومت نے اسے ایک دہشت گردانہ حملہ قرار دیا، جس کے نتیجے میں الہام نے برطانیہ، فرانس اور امریکہ کے غیر ملکی میڈیا پر اپنی مرئیت بڑھا دی، اور 2 نومبر کو ‘سیاسی پولیس اہلکاروں’ نے الہام کی کار پر حملہ کیا جب وہ جا رہا تھا۔ ہوائی اڈے اپنی ماں کو لینے کے لیے۔ حکام نے تشدد اور دھمکیوں کا استعمال کیا، اگر اس نے غیر ملکی میڈیا سے بات کرنا بند نہیں کیا تو اس کے خاندان کی جان کو خطرہ ہے۔ الہام پر اپنی آواز کے خدشات کو ختم کرنے کے لیے دباؤ ڈالنے کے بعد، اس نے اپنے ذاتی دوستوں سے اپنی حفاظت کے بارے میں تشویش کا اظہار کرنا شروع کر دیا اور، کسی حد تک، ریڈیو فری ایشیا کے ایغور سروس کے رپورٹر، میھرے عبدلیم کو ٹیلی فون پر بیان دیتے ہوئے، اس نگرانی میں۔ ریاستی سیکورٹی ایجنٹس کی طرف سے اس پر بڑھتے ہوئے جذبات میں اضافہ ہوا اور ایسا محسوس ہوا جیسے جلد ہی اس کی آواز خاموش ہو جائے گی۔ اس تشویش کی بنیاد پر، اس نے اپنے آخری الفاظ کو حراست میں لینے کے بعد ہی ریکارڈ کرنے اور شائع کرنے کو کہا۔

Arrest, violations, and a show trial

جنوری 2014 میں، 20 کے قریب پولیس اہلکاروں نے بیجنگ میں الہام کے اپارٹمنٹ پر چھاپہ مارا اور اسے اس کے دو چھوٹے بچوں کے سامنے مارا۔ انہوں نے اسے حراست میں لے لیا اور اس کی ویب سائٹ کو مستقل طور پر بند کر دیا۔ اگلے دن، چینی وزارت خارجہ کے ترجمان، ہانگ لی نے وضاحت کی کہ انہیں ‘مجرمانہ طور پر حراست میں لیا گیا’۔ اس کی حراست کے الزامات کا انکشاف فروری میں اس وقت ہوا جب بیورو آف پبلک سیکیورٹی نے ‘علیحدگی پسندی’ – ایک مبہم اکاؤنٹ جو سزائے موت کی اجازت دیتا ہے – اور اس کی ویب سائٹ سے پیروکاروں کو بھرتی کرنے کے لیے اس کی باقاعدہ گرفتاری کا اعلان کیا۔ اس کی گرفتاری نے اس بنیاد پر الہام کی حمایت کی ایک لہر کو جنم دیا کہ اس نے XUAR کی آزادی کے مطالبات کے خلاف بظاہر بحث کی تھی اور وہ اس خطے کے حق میں تھا جو چین کا ایک حصہ رہ گیا تھا۔. ویب سائٹ فارن پالیسی نے الہام کے کئی ذخیرہ شدہ مضامین پر ان کا تجزیہ ان کے ثبوتی ریکارڈ کے حصے کے طور پر شائع کیا، اور کہیں بھی انہیں علیحدگی یا آزادی کا کوئی براہ راست یا بالواسطہ اظہار نہیں ملا۔ الہام کو پانچ ماہ تک نامعلوم مقام پر رکھا گیا، اسے خاندان یا دوستوں سے کسی بھی قسم کے رابطے سے روک دیا گیا، اور 26 جون تک اپنے وکیل لی فانگ پنگ سے ملنے سے روک دیا گیا، جب لی نے اطلاع دی کہ الہام کو پہلے 20 دنوں کے دوران بیڑیوں میں جکڑا گیا تھا۔ اسے حراست میں لیا گیا اور مارچ کے پہلے 10 دنوں تک حلال کھانے سے انکار کر دیا گیا۔ یہ کارروائیاں بین الاقوامی قانون کی خلاف ورزی ہیں اور دلیل کے طور پر ظالمانہ، غیر انسانی، توہین آمیز سلوک یا سزا کے دائرہ کار میں آتی ہیں۔ بہت سے لوگ یقین رکھتے ہیں اور ڈرتے ہیں کہ الہام نے ممکنہ طور پر اذیتیں برداشت کی ہوں گی۔

الہام نے اپنی جلد بازی اور غیر منصفانہ آزمائش کے آٹھ ماہ کے بعد صرف اپنے خاندان کو دیکھا۔ اسے 23 ستمبر تک قصوروار پایا گیا اور عمر قید کی سزا سنائی گئی، لیکن وہ اپنے خلاف لگائے گئے تمام الزامات سے انکار کرتا ہے۔ مقدمے کی سماعت کے دوران، پراسیکیوٹرز نے کہا کہ الہام اپنی کلاسوں میں دہشت گردوں کو ہیرو کے طور پر پیش کر رہا تھا، ‘اویغور سوال’ کو بین الاقوامی شکل دے رہا تھا، اور طالب علم کی شہادتوں کا استعمال کر رہا تھا جن کے بارے میں یہ خیال کیا جاتا ہے کہ اسے زبردستی حاصل کیا گیا ہے۔ الہام کی گرفتاری کے بعد کچھ طالب علموں کو جبری پٹیوں کی تلاشی کا سامنا کرنا پڑا، انہیں حراست میں لے لیا گیا، اور کچھ طویل عرصے تک لاپتہ رہے، اس طرح استغاثہ کی جانب سے ایک مجرمانہ مقدمہ بنانے کی کوشش کو اجاگر کیا گیا جس میں یہ الزام لگایا گیا تھا کہ الہام وہ پرامن شخص نہیں تھا جس نے خود کو ظاہر کیا تھا۔ اس کے بجائے چینی سیکورٹی کی نظر میں خطرناک تھا اور اسے بند کر کے خاموش ہونا پڑا۔

Behind Ilham’s struggle

لیکن الہام توحی کا معاملہ دراصل کیا ہے؟ عوامی جمہوریہ چین (PRC) کے قیام کے بعد سے ہی ایغور-ہان کشیدگی موجود ہے، وقتاً فوقتاً بدامنی پھیلتی رہتی ہے اور اویغوروں کے خلاف سخت پالیسیاں شروع ہوتی ہیں، خاص طور پر مارچ 2013 میں شی جن پنگ کے حکومت سنبھالنے کے بعد اور بعد میں۔ اسی سال دسمبر میں XUAR کے لیے ‘عظیم الشان اسٹریٹجک پلان’ کی نقاب کشائی کی، جس میں الہام نے خدشات کا اظہار کیا کہ ایغوروں پر دباؤ بڑھنے والا ہے۔ چینی حکومت نے اس مسئلے کو ‘اویغور سوال’ یا ‘سنکیانگ مسئلہ’ کے طور پر تشکیل دیا ہے جسے انہوں نے سینیفیکیشن کے عمل کے ذریعے حل کرنے کی کوشش کی ہے، جو چینی تاریخ میں کئی صدیوں سے موجود ہے اور اس میں انضمام کو فروغ دینے کی بجائے انضمام.[i] بعد ازاں اس نے ہان چینیوں کو ان پالیسیوں کے ذریعے خطے میں ہجرت کرنے کی ترغیب دی جو ایغوروں پر ہان کی حمایت کرتی تھیں، اور جس کے نتیجے میں سماجی و اقتصادی ترقی میں عدم توازن پیدا ہوا۔ الہام چین کی سنسر شپ ٹیکنالوجی اور قوانین کے استعمال کا شکار ہوا، جہاں آج سینا ویبو کی ٹویٹر جیسی ایپ پر ایک پوسٹ بھی اس کے مصنف کو جیل بھیج سکتی ہے اگر وہ بظاہر چینی حکومت پر تنقید کرتا ہے۔ الہام کی قید ثابت کرتی ہے کہ چینی حکومت ایغوروں اور ہان کے درمیان پل کو تسلیم نہیں کرتی۔ مارچ 2014 میں کنمنگ ٹرین اسٹیشن میں ہان چینیوں پر اویغوروں کے مبینہ دہشت گردانہ حملے کے جواب میں، حکومت نے ‘دہشت گردی کے خلاف عوامی جنگ’ کا اعلان کیا اور 2014 کے دوران علماء، کارکنوں، صحافیوں، مصنفین اور انسانی حقوق کے وکلاء کو نشانہ بنایا۔. بنیادی تضاد یہ ہے کہ انٹرنیٹ انسانوں کو جغرافیائی، سماجی، ثقافتی اور لسانی سرحدوں سے جوڑنے کے لیے بنیادی ٹول کے طور پر کام کرتا ہے اور جس پر آج کی تجارت اور مواصلات کا زیادہ تر حصہ ہوتا ہے۔ اس کے بجائے، چینی حکومت کی ‘عظیم فائر وال’ غیر ملکی مواد کے استعمال کو چین میں داخل ہونے سے روکتی ہے اور چین کی تصویر، مفادات اور پالیسیوں کے منظور شدہ بیانیے کے مطابق ڈیجیٹل مواد کو سنسر اور کنٹرول کرنے کے لیے انٹرنیٹ کو ایک بلڈجوننگ ٹول کے طور پر استعمال کرتی ہے، جو کہ اس کے پھیلاؤ کو مجرم قرار دیتی ہے۔ ‘افواہیں’ آن لائن اور سیاسی رائے یا بیانات کا اشتراک کرنے والے کسی بھی آن لائن اکاؤنٹ کے لیے پہلے سے رجسٹریشن کی شرط قائم کرنا۔.

اس تحریر کے مصنف کے طور پر، اور بروکن چاک میں اپنے ساتھیوں کے ساتھ، میں الہام توہتی اور ان جیسے بہت سے دوسرے لوگوں کی المناک کہانی سے گہرا تعلق محسوس کرتا ہوں کیونکہ میرا بھی ایک ذاتی بلاگ ہے جہاں میں موجودہ عالمی کے بارے میں اپنے خدشات پر بات کرتا ہوں۔ معاملات جس طرح سے الہام نے اپنے ‘برج بلاگ’ کے ذریعے اظہار رائے کی آزادی کا استعمال کیا، وہ کوئی جرم نہیں ہے، اور نہ ہی اسے بلاجواز طور پر الہام کو دہشت گردی کا حامی، منشیات فروش، ہتھیار بیچنے والا، یا ایک امریکی ایجنٹ قرار دینا چاہیے۔ اس نے واقعی اویغور اور ہان کو بات چیت میں مشغول کرنے، ان کے اختلافات کو نظر انداز کرنے اور عام لوگوں کی طرح زیادہ متحد ہونے کی کوشش کی۔. اس نے اویغوروں کے بارے میں دوسروں کو تعلیم دینے کے پرامن اور باخبر طریقے استعمال کرنے کا انتخاب کیا جو اس بیانیے کی مخالفت کرتے ہیں جو انہیں دہشت گرد، برائی، اور چینی معاشرے کی بنیادوں کے لیے سلامتی کے خطرات سے دوچار کرتا ہے۔ اس کے بجائے، وہ XUAR میں نسلی ایغوروں کے لیے ایک سیاسی شہید بن گیا، جس نے انسانی حقوق اور آزادیوں کا دفاع کرنے اور اسے وسعت دینے کے لیے متعدد ایوارڈز حاصل کیے، اور ایک ایسی روشنی جو 2017 سے چین کے حراستی کیمپوں میں ایغوروں کو درپیش نازک صورتحال پر روشنی ڈالتی رہی، جہاں انسانی حقوق کی بے شمار خلاف ورزیاں مار پیٹ، تشدد، عصمت دری، قتل، جبری مشقت اور ایغور خواتین کی نس بندی کی شکل اختیار کر لیتی ہیں۔

آخر کار، الہام کو ایک باشعور اور بہادر کے طور پر یاد کیا جاتا ہے اور چینی حکام کی ناانصافیوں اور دھمکیوں کے سامنے سر اٹھاتے ہوئے، نسلی ایغوروں کے لیے لڑنے کے لیے ایک مہم اور عزم کے ساتھ یاد کیا جاتا ہے۔

* To read and learn more about Ilham Tohti, there is a recent publication named ‘We Uyghurs Have No Say: An Imprisoned Writer Speaks’ (Verso Books). It is a series of collected essays and articles by Ilham prior to his detention. A paperback and eBook version are available at: https://bit.ly/3wiP6Mv

Written by Karl Baldacchino

Edited by Olga Ruiz Pilato

Translated by Mahnoor Tariq from https://brokenchalk.org/ilham-tohti-an-activist-smiling-in-the-face-of-injustice/

Sources;

[i] Kennedy, H. (2022) ‘We Uyghur’s Have No Say by Ilham Tohti Review – A People Ignored’. The Guardian. Available online from: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/mar/09/we-uyghurs-have-no-say-ilham-tohti-review-background-genocide-china [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[ii] Makinen, J. (2014) ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’. Los Angeles Times. Available online from: https://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-china-detention-professor-20140117-story.html#axzz2qljh0LfJ [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Wong, E. (2014) ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’. The New York Times. Available online from: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/18/world/asia/separatism-trial-of-ilham-tohti-uighur-scholar-begins-in-china.html?_r=0 [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Wertime, D. (2014) ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/media/internet-where-nobody-says-anything [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Amnesty International, ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti: Levenslang Gevangengezet’. Available online from: https://www.amnesty.nl/wat-we-doen/themas/sport-en-mensenrechten/ilham-tohti [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Denyer, S. & Rauhala, E. (2016) ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’. The Washington Post. Available online from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/to-beijings-dismay-jailed-uighur-scholar-wins-human-rights-award/2016/10/11/d07dff8c-8f85-11e6-81c3-fb2fde4e7164_story.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’. Available online from: https://pen.org/advocacy-case/ilham-tohti/ [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[iii] Woeser, T. (2009) ‘Interview with Uyghur Scholar Ilham Tohti’. YouTube. Available online from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQT0iN1nMk8 [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also Johnson, I. (2014) ‘”They Don’t Want Moderate Uighurs”’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/library/nyrb-china-archive/they-dont-want-moderate-uighurs [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[iv] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’; see also Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress. Available online from: https://humanrightscommission.house.gov/defending-freedom-project/prisoners-by-country/China/Ilham%20Tohti#:~:text=Biography%3A%20Ilham%20Tohti%20is%20a,regional%20autonomy%20laws%20in%20China. [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[v] ) ‘Interview With Uyghur Scholar Ilham Tohti’; see also PEN America (2014) ‘Ilham Tohti: 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award Winner’. YouTube. Available online from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm6YLWrnKPw [Accessed 19/03/2022].

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[viii] known as 7/5 due to it being a sensitive date in China

[ix] ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also Tohti, I. (2013) ‘The Wounds of the Uyghur People Have Not Healed’. Radio Free Asia. Available online from: https://www.rfa.org/english/commentaries/wounds-07052013134813.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’.

[x] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’.

[xi] Ibid.; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also Tohti, I. (2013) ‘Uyghur Scholar Tohti Speaks About His Concerns Before Detention’. Radio Free Asia. Available online from: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/interview-02072014182032.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’.

[xii] ‘Uyghur Scholar Tohti Speaks About His Concerns Before Detention’; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’.

[xiii] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’; see also ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[xiv] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’

[xv] Ibid.; see also ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’; see also Cao, Y. (2014) ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/china-2014-through-eyes-human-rights-advocate [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[xvi] ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti: Levenslang Gevangengezet’; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’.

[xvii] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’.

[xviii] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also European Foundation for South Asia Studies, ‘Language, Religion, and Surveillance: A Comparative Analysis of China’s Governance Models in Tibet and Xinjiang’. Available online from: https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/comparative-analysis-of-governance-models-in-tibet-and-xinjiang/ [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[xix] Ibid.; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[xx] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’.

[xxi] Ibid.

[xxii] Ilham Tohti is the recipient of PEN America’s 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, the 2016 Martin Ennals Award for human rights defenders who show deep commitment and face great personal risk, Liberal International’s 2017 Prize for Freedom, was nominated in 2019 and 2020 for the Nobel Peace Prize, and awarded in 2019 Freedom Award by Freedom House, the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

[xxiii] ‘We Uyghur’s Have No Say by Ilham Tohti Review – A People Ignored’; see also ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti.

*cover photo taken from: https://www.omct.org/fr/ressources/declarations/ilham-tohti-2016-martin-ennals-award-laureate-for-human-rights-defender

Ilham Tohti: Ein Aktivist, der der Ungerechtigkeit ins Gesicht lacht

Ilham Tohti*, ein ehemaliger uigurischer Wirtschaftsprofessor an der Pekinger Minzu-Universität, der kürzlich von der Zeitung The Guardian als „Chinas Mandela“ bezeichnet wurde, wurde am 14. Januar 2014 wegen Anstiftung zu Separatismus, ethnischem Hass und Unterstützung terroristischer Aktivitäten verhaftet. Dies kritisierte die chinesische Regierungspolitik offen. Das zweitägige Gerichtsverfahren fand am 17. und 18. September 2014 statt und führte zu seiner Verurteilung zu lebenslanger Haft führte. Seine Verurteilung war ein großer Schock für viele Beobachter, Freunde und Organisationen im In- und Ausland, die Ilham aufgrund seines herausragenden, einschüchternden und vor allem aktiven Einsatzes für die Autonomie und die sprachlichen, kulturellen und religiösen Rechte der ethnischen Minderheit der Uiguren unterstützt hatten. Die Uiguren sind eine turksprachige und in der Regel muslimische Gruppe, die hauptsächlich in der Autonomen Region Xinjiang-Uigurien (nachfolgend XUAR) lebt. Ilham wurde als „das Gewissen des uigurischen Volkes“ beschrieben.

Hintergrund

Ilhams Aktivismus begann 1994, als er damit anfing, über die von Uiguren in der XUAR erlittenen Rechtsverletzungen zu schreiben. Im Jahr 2006 verlagerte er seine Aufmerksamkeit ins Internet, als er zusammen mit anderen Wissenschaftlern die Website Uyghur Online unter uighurbiz.org gründete. Bei der Website handelte es sich um eine chinesischsprachige Plattform, die die anhaltende Spaltung zwischen der uigurischen Minderheit und den Han-Chinesen überbrücken sollte. Die Plattform diente im Wesentlichen als ein Ort, an dem Ilham der Stimme der Uiguren im In- und Ausland Gehör verschaffen konnte. Sie befasste sich mit der Notlage der Uiguren, die sich von der allgemeinen Gesellschaft vernachlässigt und von der chinesischen Regierung in Bezug auf die sozioökonomische Entwicklung vergessen fühlten. Ilham lud die Han auf eine offene, friedliche und rationale Plattform ein, um ihre unterschiedlichen Ansichten zu diskutieren und zu erörtern, denn, wie er betonte, seien die Han nicht die Feinde der Uiguren, trotz ihrer diskriminierenden und oft gewalttätigen Haltung ihnen gegenüber.

Auf seiner Website sprach sich Ilham für eine friedlichen und integrative Herangehensweise aus und rief nicht ein einziges Mal zur Gewalt auf oder ermutigte dazu. Er hütete sich davor, mit staatlichen Gesetzen oder grundlegenden Vereinbarungen, die in der Zivilgesellschaft existieren, in Konflikt zu geraten. Die Website zog jedoch allmählich den Zorn der chinesischen Regierung auf sich, die die Website im Juni 2008 vor den Olympischen Spielen in China zum ersten Mal stillegte. Die Regierung begründete diese Aktion damit, dass die Website Verbindungen zu so genannten uigurischen Extremisten im Ausland propagiere. Bei den großen ethnischen Unruhen in Ürümqi, der Hauptstadt der XUAR, und den Terroranschlägen am 5. Juli 2009, die durch eine aggressivere Auslegung des Islams inspiriert waren, wurden etwa 200 Menschen getötet, 18.000 festgenommen und 34 bis 37 Personen verschwanden. Daraufhin sprach Ilham offen über den Vorfall und veröffentlichte die Namen und Gesichter der Verschwundenen, was schließlich zu seinem Hausarrest und später am 14. Juli zu einer etwa fünfwöchigen Isolationshaft führte, bis er auf internationalen Druck hin freigelassen wurde. Ein weiterer entscheidender Moment fand statt, als Ilham und seine Tochter Jewher am Flughafen waren, um ein Flug mit Ziel in die USA zu besteigen, da Ilham eine Stelle als Gastwissenschaftler an der Indiana University antreten sollte. Er wurde von den Behörden angehalten, geschlagen und festgehalten und musste mit ansehen, wie Jewher allein einen Platz in dem Flieger in die USA bekam.

Dieser Vorfall markierte den Gipfelpunkt von Ilhams Geschichte. Im Oktober 2013 verunglückte eine uigurische Familie mit ihrem Jeep auf der Jingshui-Brücke des Tiananmen Platzes, die in Brand gesetzt worden war. Die chinesische Regierung bezeichnete dies als Terroranschlag, was dazu führte, dass Ilham in den ausländischen Medien Großbritanniens, Frankreichs und der USA immer bekannter wurde. Am 2. November wurde Ilhams Auto von „politischen Aktivisten“ gerammt, als er auf dem Weg zum Flughafen war, um seine Mutter abzuholen. Die Behörden setzten Gewalt und Einschüchterung ein und drohten seiner Familie mit dem Tod, falls er nicht aufhöre, mit ausländischen Medien zu konversieren. Unter dem Druck, der auf Ilham ausgeübt wurde, damit er sich nicht mehr zu Wort meldete, begann er, gegenüber seinen Freunden seine Sorgen um seine Sicherheit zu äußern. In einer telefonischen Erklärung gegenüber Mihray Abdilim, einem Reporter des Uigurischen Dienstes von Radio Free Asia, erklärte er, dass die Überwachung durch Agenten der Staatssicherheit zugenommen habe und er das Gefühl habe, dass seine Stimme bald zum Schweigen gebracht würde. Aus dieser Sorge heraus bat er darum, dass seine letzten Worte aufgezeichnet und erst nach seiner Verhaftung veröffentlicht werden sollten.

Verhaftung, Verstöße und ein Schauprozess

Im Januar 2014 stürmten rund 20 Polizeibeamte Ilhams Wohnung in Peking und schlugen ihn vor den Augen seiner beiden Kinder im Kleindkind Alter. Sie nahmen ihn in Gewahrsam und legten seine Website dauerhaft still. Am folgenden Tag erklärte Hong Lei, ein Sprecher des chinesischen Außenministeriums, dass er „auf kriminelle Weise festgenommen“ worden sei. Die Anklagepunkte für seine Verhaftung wurden im Februar bekanntgegeben, als das Büro für öffentliche Sicherheit seine formelle Verhaftung wegen „Separatismus“ (ein vager Begriff, auf den die Todesstrafe verhängt wird) und wegen der Anwerbung von Anhängern auf seiner Website bekanntgab.

Seine Verhaftung löste eine Welle der Unterstützung für Ilham aus, da er sich deutlich gegen die Forderung nach Unabhängigkeit der XUAR ausgesprochen hatte und sich für den Verbleib der Region bei China aussprach. Die Website Foreign Policy veröffentlichte ihre Analyse mehrerer zwischengespeicherter Artikel Ilhams, die Teil seines Beweismaterials waren, und fand nirgends eine direkte oder indirekte Äußerung zu Separatismus oder Unabhängigkeit. Ilham wurde fünf Monate lang an einem nicht genannten Ort festgehalten, ihm wurde jeglicher Kontakt zu Familie oder Freunden verwehrt und er durfte seinen Anwalt Li Fangping erst am 26. Juni treffen. Li berichtete, dass Ilham in den ersten 20 Tagen seiner Haft dadurch entkräftet war, weil er gefesselt wurde. Des weiteren wurde ihm in den ersten zehn Tagen im März Halal-Essen verweigert. Diese Handlungen sind als Verstöße gegen das Völkerrecht zu bezeichnen und fallen höchstwahrscheinlich unter den Bereich der grausamen, unmenschlichen und erniedrigenden Behandlung oder Strafe. Viele glauben und befürchten, dass Ilham möglicherweise gefoltert worden ist.

Ilham sah erst nach acht Monaten, die er damit verbracht hatte, in einem übereilten und unfairen Gerichtsprozess für sich zu kämpfen, seine Familie wieder. Er wurde am 23. September für schuldig befunden und zu lebenslanger Haft verurteilt, bestreitet aber alle gegen ihn erhobenen Vorwürfe.Während des Prozesses behauptete die Staatsanwaltschaft, dass Ilham in seinem Unterricht Terroristen als Helden darstelle, die „uigurische Frage“ internationalisiere und sich auf Zeugenaussagen von Schülern stütze, von denen angenommen wird, dass sie erzwungen wurden. Einige Studenten wurden nach Ilhams Verhaftung zwangsläufig einer Leibesvisitation unterzogen und inhaftiert. Einige von ihnen blieben lange Zeit verschwunden. Dies unterstreicht den Versuch der Staatsanwaltschaft, einen belastenden Fall zu konstruieren, in dem behauptet wird, Ilham sei nicht die friedliche Person, als die er sich ausgibt, sondern eine Gefahr in den Augen der chinesischen Sicherheitsbehörden. Deswegen solle er durch eine Inhaftierung zum Schweigen gebracht werden.

Hinter den Kulissen seines Kampfes

Doch worum geht es im Fall von Ilham Tohti wirklich? Spannungen zwischen Uiguren und Han gibt es seit der Gründung der Volksrepublik China (VRC), die von Zeit zu Zeit in Unruhen ausbrechen und somit eine härtere Politik gegen Uiguren auslösten, insbesondere nachdem Xi Jinping im März 2013 die Regierung übernahm und später im Dezember desselben Jahres den „großen strategischen Plan“ für die XUAR vorstellte. Im Bezug auf diesen Plan äußerte Ilham Tohti das Bedenken, dass der Druck auf die Uiguren zunehmen würde. Die chinesische Regierung bezeichnete dieses Thema als die „uigurische Frage“ oder das „Xinjiang-Problem“ und versuchte dieses durch einen Sinifizierungsprozess zu lösen, der seit vielen Jahrhunderten in der chinesischen Geschichte existiert und eher die Assimilation als die Integration fördert. Später ermutigte China die Han-Chinesen durch Richtlinien, die die Han gegenüber den Uiguren bevorzugte, dazu, in die Region einzuwandern, was zu einem Ungleichgewicht in der sozioökonomischen Entwicklung führte. Ilham wurde Opfer von Chinas Zensurtechnologien und -gesetzen, wo heute selbst ein einziger Beitrag auf der App Sina Weibo (ähnlich wie Twitter) seinen Verfasser ins Gefängnis bringen kann, wenn er die chinesische Regierung zu kritisieren scheint. Ilhams Inhaftierung beweist, dass die chinesische Regierung die Brücke zwischen den Uiguren und den Han nicht anerkennt. Als Reaktion auf den angeblichen Terroranschlag der Uiguren auf Han-Chinesen im Bahnhof von Kunming im März 2014 rief die Regierung einen “Volkskrieg gegen den Terror” aus und nahm das ganze Jahr 2014 über Wissenschaftler, Aktivisten, Journalisten, Schriftsteller und Menschenrechtsanwälte ins Visier. Der unterschwellige Widerspruch besteht darin, dass das Internet das wichtigste Instrument ist, das Menschen über geographische, soziale, kulturelle und sprachliche Grenzen hinweg miteinander verbindet und über das ein Großteil des heutigen Handels und der Kommunikation abgewickelt wird. Stattdessen blockiert die “Große Firewall” der chinesischen Regierung den Konsum ausländischer Inhalte in China. Sie nutzt das Internet als knüppelhartes Instrument zur Zensur und Kontrolle digitaler Inhalte entsprechend der erwünschten Darstellung des Images, der Interessen und der Politik Chinas, indem sie die Verbreitung von „Gerüchten“ im Internet kriminalisiert und eine Vorregistrierung für jedes Online-Konto vorschreibt, das politische Meinungen oder Äußerungen verbreitet.

Als Autor dieses Artikels und zusammen mit meinen Kollegen bei Broken Chalk fühle ich mich der tragischen Geschichte Ilham Tohtis und vielen anderen wie ihm sehr verbunden, da auch ich einen persönlichen Blog führe, in dem ich meine Sorgen über das aktuelle Weltgeschehen anspreche. Die Ausübung des Rechts auf freie Meinungsäußerung, wie es Ilham in seinem „Brücken-Blog“ getan hat, ist kein Verbrechen und sollte Ilham nicht zu Unrecht als Unterstützer des Terrorismus, als Drogenhändler, als Waffenverkäufer oder als amerikanischen Agenten abstempeln. Er hat wirklich versucht, Uiguren und Han dazu zu bringen, miteinander ins Gespräch zu kommen, ihre Unterschiede zu überwinden und sich als gemeinsames Volk zu vereinen. Er wählte friedliche und sachkundige Wege, um andere über die Uiguren aufzuklären, und widersetzte sich damit dem Narrativ, welches die Uiguren als Terroristen, bösartig, und bedrohend für die Sicherheit des Ethos oder die Basis der chinesischen Gesellschaft darstellt. Stattdessen wurde er zu einem politischen Märtyrer für die ethnischen Uiguren in der XUAR. Ilham erhielt zahlreiche Auszeichnungen für die Verteidigung und Ausweitung der Menschenrechte und Freiheiten und wurde zu einem Leuchtturm, der seit 2017 und weiterhin Licht auf die prekäre Situation der Uiguren in Chinas Internierungslagern wirft, wo zahlreiche Menschenrechtsverletzungen in Form von Schlägen, Folter, Vergewaltigungen, Tötungen, Zwangsarbeit und der Sterilisierung von uigurischen Frauen begangen werden.

Letztendlich wird Ilham Tohti als sachkundig und mutig in Erinnerung bleiben und als eine Person, die mit Tatkraft und Entschlossenheit für die ethnischen Uiguren kämpfte und trotz der Ungerechtigkeit und Einschüchterung durch die chinesischen Behörden seinen Kopf nicht hängen ließ.

* Um mehr über Ilham Tohti zu erfahren, gibt es eine neue Publikation mit dem Titel ‘We Uyghurs Have No Say: An Imprisoned Writer Speaks’ (Verso Books)- ‘Wir Uiguren haben nichts zu sagen: Ein inhaftierter Schriftsteller spricht’. Dabei handelt es sich um eine Reihe von Essays und Artikeln, die Ilham vor seiner Inhaftierung verfasst hat. Eine Taschenbuch- und eine eBook-Version sind erhältlich unter: https://bit.ly/3wiP6Mv

Text original: https://brokenchalk.org/ilham-tohti-an-activist-smiling-in-the-face-of-injustice/

Von Karl Baldacchino

Bearbeitet von Olga Ruiz Pilato

Übersetzt von Vivien Kretz

Sources:

[i] Kennedy, H. (2022) ‘We Uyghur’s Have No Say by Ilham Tohti Review – A People Ignored’. The Guardian. Available online from: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/mar/09/we-uyghurs-have-no-say-ilham-tohti-review-background-genocide-china [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[ii] Makinen, J. (2014) ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’. Los Angeles Times. Available online from: https://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-china-detention-professor-20140117-story.html#axzz2qljh0LfJ [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Wong, E. (2014) ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’. The New York Times. Available online from: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/18/world/asia/separatism-trial-of-ilham-tohti-uighur-scholar-begins-in-china.html?_r=0 [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Wertime, D. (2014) ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/media/internet-where-nobody-says-anything [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Amnesty International, ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti: Levenslang Gevangengezet’. Available online from: https://www.amnesty.nl/wat-we-doen/themas/sport-en-mensenrechten/ilham-tohti [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Denyer, S. & Rauhala, E. (2016) ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’. The Washington Post. Available online from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/to-beijings-dismay-jailed-uighur-scholar-wins-human-rights-award/2016/10/11/d07dff8c-8f85-11e6-81c3-fb2fde4e7164_story.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’. Available online from: https://pen.org/advocacy-case/ilham-tohti/ [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[iii] Woeser, T. (2009) ‘Interview with Uyghur Scholar Ilham Tohti’. YouTube. Available online from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQT0iN1nMk8 [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also Johnson, I. (2014) ‘”They Don’t Want Moderate Uighurs”’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/library/nyrb-china-archive/they-dont-want-moderate-uighurs [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[iv] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’; see also Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress. Available online from: https://humanrightscommission.house.gov/defending-freedom-project/prisoners-by-country/China/Ilham%20Tohti#:~:text=Biography%3A%20Ilham%20Tohti%20is%20a,regional%20autonomy%20laws%20in%20China. [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[v] ) ‘Interview With Uyghur Scholar Ilham Tohti’; see also PEN America (2014) ‘Ilham Tohti: 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award Winner’. YouTube. Available online from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm6YLWrnKPw [Accessed 19/03/2022].

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[viii] known as 7/5 due to it being a sensitive date in China

[ix] ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also Tohti, I. (2013) ‘The Wounds of the Uyghur People Have Not Healed’. Radio Free Asia. Available online from: https://www.rfa.org/english/commentaries/wounds-07052013134813.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’.

[x] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’.

[xi] Ibid.; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also Tohti, I. (2013) ‘Uyghur Scholar Tohti Speaks About His Concerns Before Detention’. Radio Free Asia. Available online from: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/interview-02072014182032.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’.

[xii] ‘Uyghur Scholar Tohti Speaks About His Concerns Before Detention’; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’.

[xiii] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’; see also ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[xiv] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’

[xv] Ibid.; see also ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’; see also Cao, Y. (2014) ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/china-2014-through-eyes-human-rights-advocate [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[xvi] ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti: Levenslang Gevangengezet’; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’.

[xvii] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’.

[xviii] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also European Foundation for South Asia Studies, ‘Language, Religion, and Surveillance: A Comparative Analysis of China’s Governance Models in Tibet and Xinjiang’. Available online from: https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/comparative-analysis-of-governance-models-in-tibet-and-xinjiang/ [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[xix] Ibid.; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[xx] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’.

[xxi] Ibid.

[xxii] Ilham Tohti is the recipient of PEN America’s 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, the 2016 Martin Ennals Award for human rights defenders who show deep commitment and face great personal risk, Liberal International’s 2017 Prize for Freedom, was nominated in 2019 and 2020 for the Nobel Peace Prize, and awarded in 2019 Freedom Award by Freedom House, the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

[xxiii] ‘We Uyghur’s Have No Say by Ilham Tohti Review – A People Ignored’; see also ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti.

*copertă: https://www.omct.org/fr/ressources/declarations/ilham-tohti-2016-martin-ennals-award-laureate-for-human-rights-defender

beatings forced labour Ilham Tohti killings People’s Republic of China Posted by Beyza Nur Dag rape torture Uyghur people Uyghur-Han tensions Xinjiang

Ilham Tohti: un attivista che sorride di fronte all’ingiustizia

Ilham Tohti,* un ex professore di economia di etnia Uyghur presso l’Università Minzu di Pechino, recentemente indicato come ‘Mandela della Cina’ dal Guardian, è stato arrestato il 14 gennaio 2014, per incitamento al separatismo, odio etnico e sostegno alle attività terroristiche a causa delle sue aperte critiche alle politiche governative cinesi. Dopo il suo arresto, il processo show di due giorni tra il 17 e il 18 settembre 2014, che ha portato alla sua condanna e all’ergastolo, è stato un grande shock per molti osservatori stranieri, amici e organizzazioni che hanno sostenuto Ilham a causa della sua prominente, intimidazione, e soprattutto attivismo in difesa dell’autonomia, dei diritti linguistici, culturali e religiosi delle minoranze etniche uigure. Gli uiguri sono un gruppo di lingua turca e comunemente musulmano, per lo più residenti nella regione autonoma uigura dello Xinjiang (d’ora in poi XUAR). Ilham è stato definito la coscienza del popolo uiguro.

Scenario

L’attivismo di Ilham iniziò nel 1994 quando iniziò a scrivere delle violazioni subite dagli uiguri nello XUAR. Nel 2006, ha spostato l’attenzione online quando lui e altri studiosi hanno co-fondato il sito web ‘Uyghur Online’ su uighurbiz.org. Il sito era una piattaforma in lingua cinese che cercava di colmare le divisioni in corso tra la minoranza uigura e i cinesi Han. La piattaforma serviva essenzialmente come uno spazio in cui Ilham poteva far sentire la voce uigura a livello nazionale e internazionale. Ha approfondito il modo in cui la situazione degli uiguri li ha limitati a sentirsi disprezzati dalla società e dimenticati dal governo cinese per quanto riguarda lo sviluppo socio-economico. Ilham invitò gli Han in una piattaforma aperta, pacifica e razionale per discutere e discutere le loro diverse opinioni perché, come egli sottolineò, gli Han non erano nemici degli Uiguri, nonostante il loro atteggiamento discriminatorio e spesso violento nei loro confronti.

Attraverso il suo sito web, Ilham ha promosso un approccio pacifico e olistico e non ha mai incitato o incoraggiato la violenza. Era attento a scontrarsi con le leggi governative o gli accordi sottostanti che esistono nella società civile. Tuttavia, il sito ha iniziato ad attirare l’ira del governo cinese, che ha chiuso il sito per la prima volta nel giugno 2008 prima che la Cina ospitasse i giochi olimpici. Il governo ha motivato la chiusura sulla base del fatto che pubblicizzava i legami con i cosiddetti estremisti uiguri con sede all’estero. Le principali rivolte etniche a Urumqi, la capitale dello XUAR, e gli attacchi terroristici ispirati da una lettura più aggressiva dell’Islam il 5 luglio 2009, hanno provocato circa 200 morti, 18.000 detenuti e tra 34 e 37 sparizioni. In seguito a ciò, Ilham parlò apertamente dell’incidente e pubblicò i nomi e le facce di coloro che rimasero scomparsi, portando alla sua detenzione domiciliare e successivamente alla detenzione in isolamento il 14 luglio per circa cinque settimane fino a quando, a seguito di pressioni internazionali, è stato rilasciato.

Un altro momento cruciale è venuto quando Ilham e sua figlia, Jewher, erano all’aeroporto per imbarcarsi su un volo per gli Stati Uniti perché Ilham doveva ricoprire una posizione all’Università dell’Indiana come studioso in visita. Fu fermato dalle autorità, picchiato, arrestato e vide Jewher essere messo sul volo per gli Stati Uniti da solo. Questo incidente segnò il culmine della storia di Ilham. Nell’ottobre 2013, una famiglia uigura si è schiantata con la sua Jeep sul ponte Jingshui di Piazza Tiananmen, incendiata. Il governo cinese lo ha etichettato come un attacco terroristico, che di conseguenza ha portato Ilham ad aumentare la sua visibilità sui media stranieri di Gran Bretagna, Francia e Stati Uniti, e ha portato ‘poliziotti politici’ allo speronamento dell’auto di Ilham il 2 novembre, quando era sulla strada per l’aeroporto a prendere sua madre. Le autorità hanno usato violenza e intimidazione, minacciando la vita della sua famiglia se non avesse smesso di parlare con i media stranieri. Con la pressione esercitata su Ilham per cessare le sue preoccupazioni, cominciò a esprimere preoccupazione per la sua sicurezza ai suoi amici personali e, in qualche modo profeticamente, in una dichiarazione telefonica a Mihray Abdilim, un giornalista del servizio uiguro per Radio Free Asia, La sorveglianza su di lui da parte degli agenti di sicurezza dello stato aumentò e sentì come se la sua voce sarebbe stata presto messa a tacere. Sulla base di questa preoccupazione, ha chiesto che le sue ultime parole fossero registrate e pubblicate solo dopo la sua detenzione.

Arresto, violazioni e processo farsa

Nel gennaio 2014, circa 20 agenti di polizia hanno fatto irruzione nell’appartamento di Ilham a Pechino e lo hanno picchiato davanti ai suoi due bambini. Lo arrestarono e chiusero definitivamente il suo sito web. Il giorno seguente, Hong Lei, un portavoce del Ministero degli Affari Esteri cinese, ha spiegato che era stato ‘penalmente detenuto’. Le accuse per la sua detenzione sono state divulgate nel mese di febbraio, quando il Bureau of Public Security ha annunciato il suo arresto formale per ‘separatismo’ – un account vago che consente la pena capitale – e per il reclutamento seguaci dal suo sito web. Il suo arresto ha scatenato un’ondata di sostegno per Ilham, sostenendo che aveva visibilmente sostenuto contro le richieste di indipendenza XUAR ed era a favore del fatto che la regione rimanesse una parte della Cina. Il sito web Foreign Policy ha pubblicato la loro analisi su molti degli articoli nascosti di Ilham come parte della sua documentazione probatoria, e da nessuna parte hanno trovato alcuna espressione diretta o indiretta di separatismo o indipendenza. Ilham è stato tenuto in un luogo segreto per cinque mesi, escluso da qualsiasi contatto con la famiglia o gli amici, e trattenuto dal incontrare il suo avvocato, Li Fangping, fino al 26 giugno, quando Li ha riferito che Ilham è stato ammanettato durante i primi 20 giorni della sua detenzione e gli è stato rifiutato cibo halal per i primi 10 giorni di marzo. Tali atti costituiscono violazioni del diritto internazionale e rientrano probabilmente nel campo di applicazione di trattamenti o pene crudeli, inumani, degradanti. Molti credono e temono che Ilham possa aver sopportato torture.

Ilham vide la sua famiglia solo dopo otto mesi del suo processo affrettato e ingiusto. Fu condannato all’ergastolo il 23 settembre, ma negò tutte le accuse che erano state poste contro di lui. Durante il processo, i procuratori hanno detto che Ilham stava ritraendo i terroristi come eroi nelle sue classi, ha internazionalizzato la ‘questione uigura’, e fatto uso di testimonianze di studenti che si presume siano stati ottenuti sotto costrizione. Alcuni studenti hanno affrontato perquisizioni forzate dopo l’arresto di Ilham, sono stati arrestati e alcuni dei quali sono rimasti dispersi per lunghi periodi, Così evidenziando il tentativo dei pubblici ministeri di costruire un caso incriminante sostenendo che Ilham non era la persona pacifica che si è fatta per essere, ma era invece pericoloso agli occhi della sicurezza cinese e doveva essere messo a tacere da essere rinchiuso.

Dietro la lotta di Ilham

Ma qual è il vero caso di Ilham Tohti? Le tensioni tra uiguri e Han sono esistite fin dalla fondazione della Repubblica Popolare Cinese (RPC), covando in sacche di disordini che scoppiano di tanto in tanto e scatenando politiche più dure contro gli uiguri, Soprattutto dopo che Xi Jinping ha preso la guida del governo nel marzo 2013 e in seguito ha svelato il ‘grande piano strategico’ per lo XUAR nel dicembre dello stesso anno, con Ilham che ha espresso preoccupazione per l’aumento della pressione sugli uiguri. Il governo cinese ha definito la questione come la ‘questione uigura’ o il ‘problema dello Xinjiang’ che hanno tentato di risolvere attraverso un processo di sinificazione, Uno che esiste da molti secoli nella storia cinese e che comporta la promozione dell’assimilazione piuttosto che dell’integrazione. In seguito incoraggiò i cinesi Han a migrare nella regione attraverso politiche che favorivano gli Han rispetto agli uiguri, e che portarono a uno squilibrio dello sviluppo socio-economico. Ilham è caduto vittima dell’uso della tecnologia e delle leggi di censura cinesi, dove oggi, anche un singolo post sull’app simile a Twitter di Sina Weibo può far finire in prigione il suo autore se apparentemente critica il governo cinese. La prigionia di Ilham dimostra che il governo cinese non riconosce il ponte tra uiguri e han. In risposta al presunto attacco terroristico degli uiguri contro i cinesi han nella stazione ferroviaria di Kunming nel marzo 2014, il governo ha dichiarato una ‘Guerra popolare al terrorismo’ e ha preso di mira studiosi, attivisti, giornalisti, scrittori e avvocati per i diritti umani per tutto il 2014. La contraddizione di fondo è che Internet serve come strumento primario per collegare gli esseri umani attraverso i confini geografici, sociali, culturali e linguistici e su cui si svolge gran parte del commercio e della comunicazione di oggi. Invece, il ‘Great Firewall’ del governo cinese blocca il consumo di contenuti stranieri dall’entrare in Cina e usa Internet come strumento di bastonatura per censurare e controllare i contenuti digitali secondo la narrazione approvata dell’immagine, degli interessi e delle politiche della Cina, criminalizzare la diffusione di ‘voci’ online e stabilire un requisito di pre-registrazione per qualsiasi account online che condivide opinioni o dichiarazioni politiche.

Come autore di questo pezzo, e insieme ai miei colleghi di Broken Chalk, sento una stretta affinità con la tragica storia di Ilham Tohti e molti altri come lui perché anch’io ho un blog personale dove discuto le mie preoccupazioni sugli affari globali attuali. Esercitare la libertà di espressione nel modo in cui Ilham ha fatto attraverso il suo ‘bridge blog’ non è un crimine, né dovrebbe ingiustamente etichettare Ilham come un sostenitore del terrorismo, un venditore di droga, un venditore di armi o un agente americano. Ha veramente cercato di convincere gli uiguri e gli Han a impegnarsi in conversazioni, a trascurare le loro differenze e a diventare più uniti come persone comuni. Ha scelto di utilizzare modi pacifici e informati per educare gli altri sugli uiguri che si oppongono alla narrazione che li dipinge come terroristi, il male e i rischi per la sicurezza per l’ethos o il fondamento della società cinese. Invece, è diventato un martire politico per gli uiguri etnici in XUAR, ricevendo numerosi premi per la difesa e la ricerca di espandere i diritti umani e le libertà, e un faro che continua a far luce sulla precaria situazione che gli uiguri affrontano nei campi di internamento cinesi dal 2017, dove numerose violazioni dei diritti umani assumono la forma di percosse, torture, stupri, omicidi, lavori forzati e sterilizzazione delle donne uigure.

In definitiva, Ilham è ricordato come esperto e coraggioso e come avere una spinta e determinazione a combattere per gli uiguri etnici, tenendo la testa alta di fronte all’ingiustizia e all’intimidazione da parte delle autorità cinesi.

* Per leggere e saperne di più su Ilham Tohti, c’è una recente pubblicazione intitolata ‘Noi uiguri non abbiamo voce in capitolo: uno scrittore imprigionato parla’ (Verso Books). Si tratta di una serie di saggi e articoli raccolti da Ilham prima della sua detenzione. Una versione in brossura e eBook sono disponibili su: https://bit.ly/3wiP6Mv

Text original: https://brokenchalk.org/ilham-tohti-an-activist-smiling-in-the-face-of-injustice/

Scritto da Karl Baldacchino

Modificato da Olga Ruiz Pilato

Tradotto da Camilla Rosso

Sources:

[i] Kennedy, H. (2022) ‘We Uyghur’s Have No Say by Ilham Tohti Review – A People Ignored’. The Guardian. Available online from: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/mar/09/we-uyghurs-have-no-say-ilham-tohti-review-background-genocide-china [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[ii] Makinen, J. (2014) ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’. Los Angeles Times. Available online from: https://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-china-detention-professor-20140117-story.html#axzz2qljh0LfJ [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Wong, E. (2014) ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’. The New York Times. Available online from: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/18/world/asia/separatism-trial-of-ilham-tohti-uighur-scholar-begins-in-china.html?_r=0 [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Wertime, D. (2014) ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/media/internet-where-nobody-says-anything [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Amnesty International, ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti: Levenslang Gevangengezet’. Available online from: https://www.amnesty.nl/wat-we-doen/themas/sport-en-mensenrechten/ilham-tohti [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Denyer, S. & Rauhala, E. (2016) ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’. The Washington Post. Available online from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/to-beijings-dismay-jailed-uighur-scholar-wins-human-rights-award/2016/10/11/d07dff8c-8f85-11e6-81c3-fb2fde4e7164_story.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’. Available online from: https://pen.org/advocacy-case/ilham-tohti/ [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[iii] Woeser, T. (2009) ‘Interview with Uyghur Scholar Ilham Tohti’. YouTube. Available online from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQT0iN1nMk8 [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also Johnson, I. (2014) ‘”They Don’t Want Moderate Uighurs”’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/library/nyrb-china-archive/they-dont-want-moderate-uighurs [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[iv] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’; see also Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress. Available online from: https://humanrightscommission.house.gov/defending-freedom-project/prisoners-by-country/China/Ilham%20Tohti#:~:text=Biography%3A%20Ilham%20Tohti%20is%20a,regional%20autonomy%20laws%20in%20China. [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[v] ) ‘Interview With Uyghur Scholar Ilham Tohti’; see also PEN America (2014) ‘Ilham Tohti: 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award Winner’. YouTube. Available online from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm6YLWrnKPw [Accessed 19/03/2022].

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[viii] known as 7/5 due to it being a sensitive date in China

[ix] ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also Tohti, I. (2013) ‘The Wounds of the Uyghur People Have Not Healed’. Radio Free Asia. Available online from: https://www.rfa.org/english/commentaries/wounds-07052013134813.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’.

[x] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’.

[xi] Ibid.; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also Tohti, I. (2013) ‘Uyghur Scholar Tohti Speaks About His Concerns Before Detention’. Radio Free Asia. Available online from: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/interview-02072014182032.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’.

[xii] ‘Uyghur Scholar Tohti Speaks About His Concerns Before Detention’; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’.

[xiii] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’; see also ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[xiv] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’

[xv] Ibid.; see also ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’; see also Cao, Y. (2014) ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/china-2014-through-eyes-human-rights-advocate [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[xvi] ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti: Levenslang Gevangengezet’; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’.

[xvii] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’.

[xviii] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also European Foundation for South Asia Studies, ‘Language, Religion, and Surveillance: A Comparative Analysis of China’s Governance Models in Tibet and Xinjiang’. Available online from: https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/comparative-analysis-of-governance-models-in-tibet-and-xinjiang/ [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[xix] Ibid.; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[xx] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’.

[xxi] Ibid.

[xxii] Ilham Tohti is the recipient of PEN America’s 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, the 2016 Martin Ennals Award for human rights defenders who show deep commitment and face great personal risk, Liberal International’s 2017 Prize for Freedom, was nominated in 2019 and 2020 for the Nobel Peace Prize, and awarded in 2019 Freedom Award by Freedom House, the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

[xxiii] ‘We Uyghur’s Have No Say by Ilham Tohti Review – A People Ignored’; see also ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti.

*copertă: https://www.omct.org/fr/ressources/declarations/ilham-tohti-2016-martin-ennals-award-laureate-for-human-rights-defender

beatings forced labour Ilham Tohti killings People’s Republic of China Posted by Beyza Nur Dag rape torture Uyghur people Uyghur-Han tensions Xinjiang

Ilham Tohti: un activist care zâmbește în fața nedreptății

Ilham Tohti* este un profesor de economie la facultatea Beijing Minzu, de etnie uigură. [i] El a fost deținut pe 15 ianuarie 2014, acuzat de incitare la separatism, ură etnică și promovare a activității teroriste din cauza criticii publice a guvernului Chinez.[ii] Condamnarea lui la închisoare pe viață după un proces de doua zile, 17-18 Septembrie 2014, a fost un mare șoc pentru toți cei care îl știau datorită activismul lui intimidant care proteja autonomia, limba, cultura și drepturile religioase a minoriății etnice uigure. Populația de uiguri vorbește o limbă turcică, este, în mod obișnuit, musulmană și trăiește preponderent în Regiunea Autonomă Uigură Xinjiang (XUAR). Ilham a fost numit “conștiința oamenilor uiguri”.[iii]

Activismul lui Ilham a început în 1994 când a început să scrie despre violările suferite de uiguri în XUAR. În 2006, și-a extins scrierile în mediul online, iar, împreună cu alți academicieni, au co-creat website-ul uighurbiz.org, “Uyghur Online”. Website-ul a fost scris în chineză, căutând să elimine diferențele dintre minoritatea uigură și populația chineză. Platforma, esențial, a fost un spațiu în care Ilham făcea auzită vocea uigurilor pe plan domestic și internațional. Împărtășea greutățile prin care treceau uigurii zilnic, felul în care societatea îi devalorifica, iar Guvernul Chinez îi uita în planurile de avansare socio-economică. Prin site, Ilham invita populația chineză majoritară la o discuție deschisă și rațională pentru a dezbate diferențele de viziune, pentru că, așa cum a subliniat, populația chineză nu era dușmanul uigurilor, cu toate că minoritatea suferea discriminarea și atitudini violente din partea lor. [v]

Prin website, Ilham promova o abordarea pașnică și holistică care niciodată nu a încurajat sau incitat la violență. A fost atent sa nu fie în dezacord cu legile guvernamentale sau alte înțelegeri care există în societatea civică. [vi] Cu toate acestea, site-ul a început să atragă dezaprobarea Guvernului Chinez, care a închis site-ul pentru prima dată în iunie 2008, înainte de jocurile Olimpice. Guvernul a legitimizat acțiunea pe baza faptului că publica linkuri pentru uigurii extremiști din străinătate.[vii] Revoltele etnice majore din Urumqi, capitala XUAR, și a atacurilor teroriste din 5 iulie 2009, inspirate de o interpretare agresivă a Islamului, au rezultat în 200 de morți, 18,000 de deținuți și între 34-37 de dispariții. Ilham a vorbit deschis despre cele petrecute și a publicat numele și fețele celor care au rămas dispăruți, ducând la arestului la domiciliu, apoi la detenție pentru cinci săptămâni, până a fost eliberat sub presiune internațională. [ix]

Un alt moment crucial a fost cand Ilham și fiica sa, Jewher, erau la aeroport să zboare spre S.U.A., pentru că Ilham vizita universitatea din Indiana. A fost oprit de autorități, bătut, deținut și s-a uitat cum fiica lui a fost obligtă să meargă în S.U.A. singură. [x] În octombrie 2013, o familie uigură a făcut accident cu mașina pe podul Jingshui din Piața Tiananmen. Guvernul Chinez a etichetat acest incident ca un atac terorist, ceea ce a rezultat în creșterea vizibilității incidentului în Franța, Anglia și America. Eventual, un “polițist” a lovit mașina lui Ilham pe 2 noiembrie, când își lua mama de la aeroport. Autoritățile au folosit violență și intimidare, amenințând cu moartea familia lui Ilham dacă nu se oprește din a vorbi cu mass-media internațională. [xi] Cu o presiune enormă asupra liberei exprimări, a început sa recunoască frica asupra siguranței sale și a celor dragi. A exprimat acest lucru la Radio Free Asia și, într-un mod cumva profetic, a cerut sa îi fie înregistrate ultimele cuvinte și publicate doar după detenție.[xii]

În ianuarie 2014, 20 de polițiști au intrat în apartamentul lui Ilham din Beijing și l-au bătut în fața celor doi copii ai săi, apoi l-au deținut și i-au închis website-ul. Următoarea zi, Hong Lei, o persoană care vorbește în numele Ministrului Chinei ale Afacerilor Externe, a explicat că Ilham este închis pe baza de crimă. Acuzele s-au făcut publice în februarie, când Biroul Public de Securitate a anunțat oficial arestul lui Ilham bazat de “acțiuni separatiste”- o explicație cel puțin vagă pentru a îl condamna la pedeapsa capitrală- și pentru că și-ar fi recrutat adepți cu ajutorul website-ului său.[xiii] Arestului lui a stârnit și mai mult suport public pentru Ilham pe baza faptului că el nu milita pentru independența regiunii XUAR, ci era în favoarea aparținerii ei de China. Website-ul “Foreign Policy” a publicat o analiză a articolelor lui Ilham care rămăseseră în datele calculatoarelor investigatorilor. Analiza a făcut parte din dosarul de dovezi, arătând că nu au găsit niciun mesaj separatist sau pro-independeță care să fi fost exprimat într-un mod direct sau indirect.[xiv] Ilham am fost deținut la o locație necunoscută, fiindu-i interzis orice contact cu familia sau prietenii sai și oprit din a se întâlni cu avocata sa, Li Fanping, până în iunie 2016, Li a raportat că Ilham a fost încătușat continuu în primele 20 de zile și i-a fost refuzată mâncare Halal în primele 10 zile din martie. Aceste acțiune întregesc violări ale legii internaționale și se pot clasa la scopuri de acțiuni inumane, tratament denigrator și pedepse denigratoare. Mulți cred, cu durere și părere de rău, că viața lui Ilham s-a sfârșit, cel mai probabil, prin tortura. [xv]

Ilham și-a văzut familia abia după opt luni după procesul lui legal executat în mod injust. El a fost găsit vinovat și l-au condamnat la închisoare pe viață pe 23 septembrie. El a negat toate acuzațiile care i s-au adus.[xvi] În timpul procesului, procurorii au spus că Ilham descria teroriștii ca pe niște eroi la orele lui de curs, că a internaționalizat vizibilitatea uigurilor și că și-a forțat studenții să îi ofere testimoniale pozitive. Unii dintre studenții lui au fost supuși la anchete la domiciliu, au fost deținuți și câțiva au rămas dispăruți pentru mult timp. Toate aceste evenimente evidențiază încercarea procurorului de a construi un caz incriminatoriu care pretindea că Ilham nu este persoana pașnică pe care a afișat-o public, ci o persoană periculoasă pentru securitatea Chinei, a cărei singur remediu este tăcerea și îndepărtarea din societate.[xvii]

Lupta lui Ilham

Dar despre ce este lupta lui Ilham Tohti, de fapt? Tensiunile dintre uiguri și populația chineză-Han, au existat încă de la crearea Republicii Populare Chineze, care, din când în când rezultau în revolte și violență care atrăgeau legi și mai drastice împotriva uigurilor. După ce Xi Jinping a preluat puterea în martie 2013 și apoi a dezvăluit un “mare plan strategic” pentru XUAR în același an, Ilham și-a exprimat convingerea că presiunile asupra uigurilor vor continua.[xviii] Guvernul Chinez a etichetat poziția retoricii referitoare la tensiunile dintre cele două grupuri ca “Problema cu uigurii”, încercând să rezolve această “problemă” prin Sinificare, proces care a existat de multe secole în China, bazat pe asimilare mai mult decât integrare. Guvernul a încurajat populația chineză-Han să migreze în XUAR prin legi care îi favorizau în regiune, ceea ce a rezultat într-un dezechilibru socio-economic. Ilham a fost victima cenzurii tehnologice și a legilor Chinei, unde astăzi, o singură postare pe rețeaua de socializare Sina Weibo, asemănătoare cu Twitter, poate trimite autorul la închisoare dacă doar înclină la a critica guvernul Chinei. [xix]

Ca răspuns la presupusul atac terorist dintre uiguri și chinezii-Han, care a avut loc în stația de tren, în Kunming, 2014, guvernul a declarat ‘People’s War on Terror’/Lupta Poporului Împotriva Terorii, care viza academicii și intelectualli, activiștii, jurnaliștii, scriitorii și avocații drepturilor umane pe tot parcursul anului 2014.[xx] Contradicția fundamentală este că internetul servește ca o unealtă principală pentru a conecta oameni care altfel ar fi despărțite de granițe geografice și diferențe sociale, culturale și lingvistice și facilitând toate ariile guvernamentale, economice și sociale. În schimb, combinația acțiunilor legislative și tehnologice în China, sub numele “Great Firewall“/“Marele Zid de Foc”, blochează accesul la conținut de informație internațional și folosește internetul pentru a denzura și controla conținutul digital în conformitate cu retorica înaintată de guvern despre imaginea, interesele și activitățile politice ale Chinei. Pentru a avea un cont online, se necesită o pre-înregistrare unde se împărtășesc opinii politice și declarații. Împrăștierea zvonurilor este o acțiune criminalizată.[xxi]

Karl Baldacchino, cel care este autorul original textului din limba engleză, spune:

“Ca autor a acestui articol, simt o afinitate cu povestea tragică a lui Ilham Tohti și a multor altora care trec prin experiențe asemănătoare, pentru că și eu am un blog personal unde discut despre ce mi se pare îngrijorător pe plan global. Blogul creat de Ilham este doar produsul exercitării libertății de exprimare. Nu este o “crimă”, așa cum a fost acuzat și nu ar trebui să fie numit în mod injust un suporter terorist, un traficant de droguri, un vânzător de arme sau un agent American. Ilham a încercat cu adevărat să creeze o cooperare bazată pe comunicare, să se primească dincolo de diferențe și să devină mai uniți ca oameni în sociatate. El a ales sa folosească metode pașnice și educaționale pentru a îi informa pe ceilalți desprea narativa din partea uigurilor, care sunt stigmatizați ca fiind ostili, numiți “teroriști” și văzuți un pericol către etosul societății Chinei. În schimb, el a devenit un martir politic pentru etnia uigură din XUAR, primind numeroase premii pentru apărarea și răspândirea drepturilor umane [xxii] și a devenit o lumină care continuă să ghideze situațiile pe care uigurii le-au întâmpinat începând din 2017, în tabere de concentrare, unde numeroase violări ale drepturilor umane au luat forma bătăilor, torturii, violurilor, omorurilor, nașterii forțate și a sterilizării femeilor uigure.[xxiii]”

Ilham este recunoscut pentru determinarea sa admirabilă în lupta pentru etnia uigură, mergând cu capul sus în fața injustiției și intimidării autorităților chineze.

* Pentru a citi mai mult despre Ilham Tohti, exista o publicație nouă, “Noi, uigurii, nu putem spune nimic: un scriitor deținut vorbește”/ ‘We Uyghurs Have No Say: An Imprisoned Writer Speaks’ (Verso Books). Este o serie de eseuri și articole culese de Ilham înainte de închiderea lui. Coperta si o versiune eBook este valabila la: https://bit.ly/3wiP6Mv

* Nota autorului: în cultura uigură, numele “Tohti” se referă la numele tatălui său, înțeles ca “Ilham este fiului lui Tohti”.

Text original: https://brokenchalk.org/ilham-tohti-an-activist-smiling-in-the-face-of-injustice/

Scris de Karl Baldacchino

Editat de Olga Ruiz Pilato

Tradus de Bianca Balea

Surse:

[i] Kennedy, H. (2022) ‘We Uyghur’s Have No Say by Ilham Tohti Review – A People Ignored’. The Guardian. Available online from: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/mar/09/we-uyghurs-have-no-say-ilham-tohti-review-background-genocide-china [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[ii] Makinen, J. (2014) ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’. Los Angeles Times. Available online from: https://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-china-detention-professor-20140117-story.html#axzz2qljh0LfJ [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Wong, E. (2014) ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’. The New York Times. Available online from: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/18/world/asia/separatism-trial-of-ilham-tohti-uighur-scholar-begins-in-china.html?_r=0 [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Wertime, D. (2014) ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/media/internet-where-nobody-says-anything [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Amnesty International, ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti: Levenslang Gevangengezet’. Available online from: https://www.amnesty.nl/wat-we-doen/themas/sport-en-mensenrechten/ilham-tohti [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Denyer, S. & Rauhala, E. (2016) ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’. The Washington Post. Available online from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/to-beijings-dismay-jailed-uighur-scholar-wins-human-rights-award/2016/10/11/d07dff8c-8f85-11e6-81c3-fb2fde4e7164_story.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’. Available online from: https://pen.org/advocacy-case/ilham-tohti/ [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[iii] Woeser, T. (2009) ‘Interview with Uyghur Scholar Ilham Tohti’. YouTube. Available online from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQT0iN1nMk8 [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also Johnson, I. (2014) ‘”They Don’t Want Moderate Uighurs”’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/library/nyrb-china-archive/they-dont-want-moderate-uighurs [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[iv] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’; see also Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress. Available online from: https://humanrightscommission.house.gov/defending-freedom-project/prisoners-by-country/China/Ilham%20Tohti#:~:text=Biography%3A%20Ilham%20Tohti%20is%20a,regional%20autonomy%20laws%20in%20China. [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[v] ) ‘Interview With Uyghur Scholar Ilham Tohti’; see also PEN America (2014) ‘Ilham Tohti: 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award Winner’. YouTube. Available online from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm6YLWrnKPw [Accessed 19/03/2022].

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[viii] known as 7/5 due to it being a sensitive date in China

[ix] ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also Tohti, I. (2013) ‘The Wounds of the Uyghur People Have Not Healed’. Radio Free Asia. Available online from: https://www.rfa.org/english/commentaries/wounds-07052013134813.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’.

[x] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’.

[xi] Ibid.; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also Tohti, I. (2013) ‘Uyghur Scholar Tohti Speaks About His Concerns Before Detention’. Radio Free Asia. Available online from: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/interview-02072014182032.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’.

[xii] ‘Uyghur Scholar Tohti Speaks About His Concerns Before Detention’; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’.

[xiii] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’; see also ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[xiv] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’

[xv] Ibid.; see also ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’; see also Cao, Y. (2014) ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/china-2014-through-eyes-human-rights-advocate [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[xvi] ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti: Levenslang Gevangengezet’; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’.

[xvii] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’.

[xviii] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also European Foundation for South Asia Studies, ‘Language, Religion, and Surveillance: A Comparative Analysis of China’s Governance Models in Tibet and Xinjiang’. Available online from: https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/comparative-analysis-of-governance-models-in-tibet-and-xinjiang/ [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[xix] Ibid.; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[xx] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’.

[xxi] Ibid.

[xxii] Ilham Tohti is the recipient of PEN America’s 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, the 2016 Martin Ennals Award for human rights defenders who show deep commitment and face great personal risk, Liberal International’s 2017 Prize for Freedom, was nominated in 2019 and 2020 for the Nobel Peace Prize, and awarded in 2019 Freedom Award by Freedom House, the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

[xxiii] ‘We Uyghur’s Have No Say by Ilham Tohti Review – A People Ignored’; see also ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti.

*copertă: https://www.omct.org/fr/ressources/declarations/ilham-tohti-2016-martin-ennals-award-laureate-for-human-rights-defender

beatings forced labour Ilham Tohti killings People’s Republic of China Posted by Beyza Nur Dag rape torture Uyghur people Uyghur-Han tensions Xinjiang

Ilham Tohti: Egy aktivista az igazságtalansággal szemben

Ilham Tohtit*, a pekingi Minzu Egyetem egykori ujgur közgazdászprofesszorát, akit a Guardian nemrégiben “kínai Mandelaként” emlegetett, 2014. január 14-én vették őrizetbe szeparatizmus, etnikai gyűlöletre való uszítás és terrorista tevékenységek támogatásának vádjával, mivel nyíltan bírálta a kínai kormányzati politikát. Letartóztatását követően a 2014. szeptember 17. és 18. között lezajlott kétnapos koncepciós per során Ilhamot bűnösnek találták és életfogytiglani börtönbüntetésre ítélték, mely nagy megrázkódtatást jelentett számos külföldi és hazai megfigyelőnek, barátnak és szervezetnek, akik támogatták Ilhamot kiemelkedő és megfélemlítő aktivizmusában, mely a kisebbségi etnikai ujgurok autonómiáját, nyelvi, kulturális és vallási jogait védte. Az ujgurok egy török nyelvű és többségében muzulmán népcsoport, amely többnyire a Hszincsiang-Ujgur Autonóm Területen lakik. Ilhamot “az ujgur nép lelkiismeretének” nevezik.

Háttér

Ilham aktivizmusa 1994-ben kezdődött, amikor elkezdett írni az ujgurok által a Hszincsiang-Ujgur Autonóm Területen elszenvedett jogsértésekről. 2006-ban az interneten folytatta a figyelemfelkeltést, amikor más tudósokkal közösen megalapította az “Uyghur Online” weboldalt (uighurbiz.org). A weboldal egy kínai nyelvű platform volt, amely az ujgur kisebbség és a han kínaiak közötti folyamatos megosztottság áthidalására törekedett. A platform lényegében olyan térként szolgált, amelyen Ilham hallathatta az ujgurok hangját és érdekeit belföldön és nemzetközi szinten egyaránt. Részletesen beszámolt arról, hogy az ujgurok úgy érezték, hogy az társadalom többi része lenézi őket, és a kínai kormány megfeledkezik róluk a társadalmi-gazdasági fejlődéssel kapcsolatban. Ilham meghívta a han kínaiakat egy nyitott, békés és racionális platformra, hogy megvitassák eltérő nézeteiket, mert mint hangsúlyozta, a han nem az ujgurok ellenségei, annak ellenére, hogy diszkriminatív és gyakran erőszakos hozzáállásuk van velük szemben.

Weboldalán keresztül Ilham békés és holisztikus megközelítést hirdetett, és egyszer sem szított erőszakot. Gondosan ügyelt arra, hogy nehogy összeütközésbe kerüljön a kormányzati törvényekkel vagy a civil társadalomban létező mögöttes megállapodásokkal. A weboldal azonban elkezdte vonzani a kínai kormány irigységét, amely először 2008 júniusában zárta le a weboldalt, mielőtt Kína otthont adott volna az olimpiai játékoknak. A kormány azzal indokolta a leállítást, hogy nyilvánosságra hozta a külföldön élő úgynevezett ujgur szélsőségesekkel való kapcsolatokat. A 2009. július 5-én Urumqi-ban, a Hszincsiang-Ujgur Autonóm Terület fővárosában kitört nagy etnikai zavargások és az iszlám agresszívabb olvasata által inspirált terrortámadások körülbelül 200 ember halálát okozták, míg további 18.000-et vettek őrizetbe, és körülbelül 34-37-en tűntek el.

Ezt követően Ilham nyíltan beszélt az esetről, és közzétette az eltűntek nevét és arcát, ami végül július 14-én házi őrizethez, majd nagyjából öt hétig tartó magánzárkájához vezetett, amíg nemzetközi nyomásra szabadon nem engedték.

Egy másik döntő pillanat akkor jött el, amikor Ilham és lánya, Jewher a repülőtéren voltak, hogy felszálljanak egy amerikai járatra, mert Ilham vendégkutatóként kapott állást az Indiana Egyetemen. A hatóságok megállították, összeverték, őrizetbe vették Ilhamot, míg lányát, Jewhert egyedül az Egyesült Államokba tartó járatra tették. Ez az eset Ilham történetének csúcspontját jelentette. 2013 októberében egy ujgur család lezuhant a dzsipjével a Tienanmen téri Jingshui hídról, melyet felgyújtottak. A kínai kormány terrortámadásnak minősítette a balesetet, melynek következtében Ilham növelte láthatóságát Nagy-Britannia, Franciaország és az Egyesült Államok külföldi médiájában, ez viszont ahhoz vezetett, hogy “politikai rendőrök” csapódtak be Ilham autójába november 2-án, amikor épp úton volt a repülőtérre, hogy felvegye az édesanyját.

A hatóságok erőszakot és megfélemlítést alkalmaztak, és családja épségével fenyegetődztek, ha nem hagy fel a külföldi médiával. Miközben Ilhamot nyomás alá helyezték, hogy hagyjon fel aggodalmainak hangot adásával, Ilham egyre gyakrabban kezdte kifejezni biztonsága miatti aggodalmát barátainak, és némileg prófétai módon telefonon nyilatkozott Mihray Abdilimnek, a Szabad Ázsia Rádió ujgur riporterének, hogy az állambiztonsági ügynökök megnövelt megfigyelése alatt áll és úgy érzi, hamarosan elnémul a hangja. Ezen aggodalmára hivatkozva kérte, hogy utolsó szavait rögzítsék és csak őrizetbe vétele után tegyék közzé.

Letartóztatás, bántalmazás és koncepciós per

2014 januárjában mintegy 20 rendőr razziázott Ilham pekingi lakásán, és verték össze a férfit két kisgyermeke előtt. Őrizetbe vették, és véglegesen letiltották a weboldalát. Másnap Hong Lei, a kínai külügyminisztérium szóvivője közölte, hogy “büntetőjogi őrizetbe vették”. Az őrizetbe vételével kapcsolatos vádakat februárban hozták nyilvánosságra, amikor a Közbiztonsági Hivatal bejelentette, hogy hivatalosan “szeparatizmus” vádjával tartóztatták le, mely egy homályos vád, ami lehetővé teszi a halálbüntetést. Továbbá azzal vádolták, hogy követőket toborzott a weboldala segítségével. Ilham letartóztatása új támogatási hullámot indított, főként azon az alapon, hogy láthatóan a Hszincsiang-Ujgur Autonóm Terület függetlenségére irányuló felhívások ellen érvelt, és támogatta, hogy a régió Kína része maradjon. A Foreign Policy weboldal a bizonyítási jegyzőkönyve részeként közzétette elemzését Ilham több archivált cikkéről, és sehol sem találtak a szeparatizmus vagy a függetlenedés nyílt vagy burkolt megemlítését.

Ilhamot öt hónapig nem nyilvános helyen tartották fogva, elzárva a családdal vagy a barátokkal való minden kapcsolattól, és június 26-ig visszatartották attól is, hogy találkozzon ügyvédjével, Li Fangpinggal. Később Li arról számolt be, hogy Ilhamot szándékosan legyengítették azáltal, hogy fogva tartásának első 20 napján bilincsben tartották és március első 10 napjában megtagadták tőle a halal ételt. Ezek a cselekmények a nemzetközi jog megsértésének minősülnek, és vitathatatlanul a kegyetlen, embertelen, megalázó bánásmód vagy büntetés hatálya alá tartoznak. Sokan azt hiszik és attól tartanak, hogy Ilhamot esetleg meg is kínozták.

Ilham csak nyolc hónapnyi elhamarkodott és igazságtalan tárgyalás után láthatta családját. Szeptember 23-án bűnösnek találták és életfogytiglani börtönbüntetésre ítélték, ám ő tagadja az ellene felhozott vádakat. A tárgyalás során az ügyészek azzal vádolták, hogy Ilham a terroristákat hősökként ábrázolta az osztályaiban, nemzetközivé tette az “ujgur kérdést”, és felhasználta a diákok vallomásait, amelyeket feltételezhetően kényszer hatására tettek. Néhány diákot Ilham letartóztatása után kényszerű házkutatásnak vetettek alá, őrizetbe vettek, és néhányan közülük hosszú időre eltűntek, ezzel segítve az ügyészek kísérletét egy terhelő ügy felépítésére, azt állítva, hogy Ilham nem az a békés ember volt, akinek kikiáltotta magát, hanem veszélyes volt Kína biztonságára, és el kellett hallgattatni azzal, hogy bezárták.

Ilham küzdelme mögött

De miről is szól valójában Ilham Tohti esete? Az ujgur-han feszültségek a Kínai Népköztársaság (KNK) megalapítása óta fennállnak, az időről időre kirobbanó zavargások formájában jelennek meg, ezáltal szigorúbb politikát válta ki az ujgurokkal szemben, különösen azután, hogy Hszi Csin-ping 2013 márciusában átvette a kormány vezetését, majd ugyanazon év decemberében bemutatta a Hszincsiang-Ujgur Autonóm Terület “nagy stratégiai tervét”, mellyel kapcsolatban Ilham aggodalmát fejezte ki amiatt, hogy az ujgurokra nehezedő nyomás hamarosan növekedni fog. A kínai kormány a kérdést “ujgurkérdésként” vagy “hszincsiangi problémaként” fogalmazta meg, amelyet a kínai történelemben évszázadok óta létező szinifikációs folyamattal próbáltak megoldani, és amely az integráció helyett az asszimiláció előmozdítását vonja maga után.

Később olyan politikával próbálta arra ösztönözni a han kínaiakat, hogy vándoroljanak a régióba, amelyek a hanokat részesítették előnyben az ujgurokkal szemben, és amelyek a társadalmi-gazdasági fejlődés egyensúlyhiányához vezettek. Ilham áldozatul esett annak, hogy Kína cenzúratechnológiát és törvényeket alkalmaz, ahol ma már a Sina Weibo Twitter-szerű alkalmazásának egyetlen bejegyzése is börtönbe juttathatja szerzőjét, ha látszólag kritizálja a kínai kormányt. Ilham bebörtönzése azt bizonyítja, hogy a kínai kormány nem ismeri el az ujgurok és a han közötti hidat. Válaszul az ujgurok által 2014 márciusában a kunmingi vasútállomáson a han kínaiak ellen elkövetett feltételezett terrortámadásra a kormány “népi háborút hirdetett a terror ellen” és 2014-ben tudósokat, aktivistákat, újságírókat, írókat és emberi jogi ügyvédeket vett célba.

Az ellentmondás abban rejlik, hogy az internet elsődleges eszközként szolgál az emberek földrajzi, társadalmi, kulturális és nyelvi határokon átnyúló összekapcsolására, és amelyen a mai kereskedelem és kommunikáció nagy része zajlik. Ehelyett a kínai kormány “Nagy Tűzfala” megakadályozza a külföldi tartalmak Kínába való belépését, és az internetet elhomályosító eszközként használja a digitális tartalom cenzúrázására és ellenőrzésére Kína imázsának, érdekeinek és politikájának jóváhagyott narratívája szerint, kriminalizálva a “pletykák” online terjesztését, és előzetes regisztrációra kötelez minden olyan online fiókot, amely politikai véleményeket vagy nyilatkozatokat oszt meg.

Ezen esszé szerzőjeként és a Broken Chalk-nál dolgozó kollégáimmal együtt szoros affinitást érzek Ilham Tohti és sok más hozzá hasonló ember tragikus történetéhez, mert nekem is van egy személyes blogom, ahol az aktuális globális ügyekkel kapcsolatos aggodalmaimat tárgyalom. A szólásszabadság gyakorlása úgy, ahogyan Ilham tette a “hídblogján” keresztül, nem bűncselekmény, és ezért nem is lenne szabad igazságtalanul terrorista támogatónak, drogkereskedőnek, fegyverárusnak vagy amerikai ügynöknek bélyegezni Ilhamot. Ilham csupán arra törekedett, hogy rávegye az ujgurokat és a hanokat, hogy beszélgetéseket folytassanak, figyelmen kívül hagyják nézeteltéréseiket, és egységesebbé váljanak, mint áltagos mindennapi emberek. Úgy döntött, hogy békés és tájékozott módszerekkel oktat másokat az ujgurokról, akik ellenzik azt a narratívát, amely terroristaként, gonoszként és a kínai társadalom szellemiségére vagy alapjaira nézve biztonsági kockázatként tekint rájuk.

Ehelyett Ilham a Hszincsiang-Ujgur Autonóm Területen élő ujgurok politikai mártírává vált, számos elismerést kapott az emberi jogok és szabadságok védelméért és kiterjesztéséért, valamint rávilágított arra a bizonytalan helyzetre, amellyel az ujgurok 2017 óta szembesülnek Kína internálótáboraiban, ahol számos emberjogi jogsértés történik verés, kínzás, nemi erőszak, gyilkosság, kényszermunka és az ujgur nők sterilizálása formájában.

Ilhamra végső soron úgy emlékeznek, mint tájékozott és bátor ember, ki erejét és elszántságát arra használta, hogy harcoljon az ujgur etnikumért, és a kínai hatóságok igazságtalanságával és megfélemlítésével szemben is fellépett.

*Ha többet szeretne olvasni és megtudni Ilham Tohtiról, van egy nemrégiben megjelent kiadvány, melynek címe: “Mi, ujgurok nem szólunk: Egy bebörtönzött író beszél” (Verso Books). Ez egy sor összegyűjtött esszé és cikk Ilhamtól a fogva tartása előtti időszakból. A puhakötésű és az e-könyv változat a következő címen érhető el: https://bit.ly/3wiP6Mv

Írta: Karl Baldacchino

Szerkesztette: Olga Ruiz Pilato

Fordította: Gyaraki Réka

Sources;

[i] Kennedy, H. (2022) ‘We Uyghur’s Have No Say by Ilham Tohti Review – A People Ignored’. The Guardian. Available online from: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/mar/09/we-uyghurs-have-no-say-ilham-tohti-review-background-genocide-china [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[ii] Makinen, J. (2014) ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’. Los Angeles Times. Available online from: https://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-china-detention-professor-20140117-story.html#axzz2qljh0LfJ [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Wong, E. (2014) ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’. The New York Times. Available online from: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/18/world/asia/separatism-trial-of-ilham-tohti-uighur-scholar-begins-in-china.html?_r=0 [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Wertime, D. (2014) ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/media/internet-where-nobody-says-anything [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Amnesty International, ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti: Levenslang Gevangengezet’. Available online from: https://www.amnesty.nl/wat-we-doen/themas/sport-en-mensenrechten/ilham-tohti [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Denyer, S. & Rauhala, E. (2016) ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’. The Washington Post. Available online from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/to-beijings-dismay-jailed-uighur-scholar-wins-human-rights-award/2016/10/11/d07dff8c-8f85-11e6-81c3-fb2fde4e7164_story.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’. Available online from: https://pen.org/advocacy-case/ilham-tohti/ [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[iii] Woeser, T. (2009) ‘Interview with Uyghur Scholar Ilham Tohti’. YouTube. Available online from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQT0iN1nMk8 [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also Johnson, I. (2014) ‘”They Don’t Want Moderate Uighurs”’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/library/nyrb-china-archive/they-dont-want-moderate-uighurs [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[iv] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’; see also Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress. Available online from: https://humanrightscommission.house.gov/defending-freedom-project/prisoners-by-country/China/Ilham%20Tohti#:~:text=Biography%3A%20Ilham%20Tohti%20is%20a,regional%20autonomy%20laws%20in%20China. [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[v] ) ‘Interview With Uyghur Scholar Ilham Tohti’; see also PEN America (2014) ‘Ilham Tohti: 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award Winner’. YouTube. Available online from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm6YLWrnKPw [Accessed 19/03/2022].

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[viii] known as 7/5 due to it being a sensitive date in China

[ix] ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also Tohti, I. (2013) ‘The Wounds of the Uyghur People Have Not Healed’. Radio Free Asia. Available online from: https://www.rfa.org/english/commentaries/wounds-07052013134813.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’.

[x] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’.

[xi] Ibid.; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also Tohti, I. (2013) ‘Uyghur Scholar Tohti Speaks About His Concerns Before Detention’. Radio Free Asia. Available online from: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/interview-02072014182032.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’.

[xii] ‘Uyghur Scholar Tohti Speaks About His Concerns Before Detention’; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’.

[xiii] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’; see also ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[xiv] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’

[xv] Ibid.; see also ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’; see also Cao, Y. (2014) ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/china-2014-through-eyes-human-rights-advocate [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[xvi] ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti: Levenslang Gevangengezet’; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’.

[xvii] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’.

[xviii] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also European Foundation for South Asia Studies, ‘Language, Religion, and Surveillance: A Comparative Analysis of China’s Governance Models in Tibet and Xinjiang’. Available online from: https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/comparative-analysis-of-governance-models-in-tibet-and-xinjiang/ [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[xix] Ibid.; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[xx] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’.

[xxi] Ibid.

[xxii] Ilham Tohti is the recipient of PEN America’s 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, the 2016 Martin Ennals Award for human rights defenders who show deep commitment and face great personal risk, Liberal International’s 2017 Prize for Freedom, was nominated in 2019 and 2020 for the Nobel Peace Prize, and awarded in 2019 Freedom Award by Freedom House, the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

[xxiii] ‘We Uyghur’s Have No Say by Ilham Tohti Review – A People Ignored’; see also ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti.

*cover photo taken from: https://www.omct.org/fr/ressources/declarations/ilham-tohti-2016-martin-ennals-award-laureate-for-human-rights-defender

beatings forced labour Ilham Tohti killings People’s Republic of China Posted by Beyza Nur Dag rape torture Uyghur people Uyghur-Han tensions Xinjiang

إلهام توهتي: ناشط يبتسم في وجه الظلم

إلهام توهتي الأويغوري كان بروفيسور الاقتصاد في جامعة بكين مينزو، والذي أشارت إليه صحيفة الغارديان مؤخرًا باسم “مانديلا الصين”. [i] وقد تم اعتقاله في ١٤يناير ٢٠١٤، لتحريضه على الانفصالية والكراهية العرقية ودعم الأنشطة الإرهابية فقط بسبب انتقاده الصريح لسياسة الحكومة الصينية̣ [ii] و عقب اعتقاله٬ تمت محاكمته الصورية التي استمرت يومين بين ١٧و ١٨سبتمبر ٢٠١٤، والتي أدت إلى إدانته والحكم عليه بالسجن المؤبد̣ و أدى حكمه صدمة للعديد من المراقبين الأجانب والمحليين والأصدقاء والمنظمات التي دعمت إلهام بسبب نشاطه البارز في الدفاع عن الاستقلال الذ اتي واللغوي والثقافي والحقوق الدينية للأقلية الأويغورية العرقية.
الأويغور هم مجموعة من المسلمين يتحدثون لغة الترك ويقطنون في الغالب في منطقة شينجيانغ أويغور المتمتعة بالحكم الذاتي (شينجيانغ). وكان يشار إلى إلهام باسم “ضمير شعب الأويغور”. [iii]

خلفية إلهام توهتي
بدأ نشاط إلهام في عام ١٩٩٤عندما بدأ الكتابة عن الانتهاكات التي تعرض لها الأويغور في إقليم شينجيانغ. في عام ٢٠٠٦، و أثار الانتباه عبر الإنترنت عندما شارك مع باحثين آخرين في تأسيس موقع “أويغير أونلاين” على uighurbiz.org. كان الموقع عبارة عن منصة باللغة الصينية تسعى إلى سد الانقسامات المستمرة بين أقلية الأويغور وصينية الهان. [iv] كانت المنصة بمثابة مساحة يمكن لإلهام من خلالها أن يجعل صوت الأويغور مسموعًا محليًا ودوليًا. و كان الموقع يتحدث عن نظرة المجتمع للأويغور، و كانت هذه نظرة ازدراء واهمال من قبل الحكومة الصينية فيما يتعلق بالتنمية الاجتماعية والاقتصادية. كان إلهام يدعو الهان إلى منصة منفتحة وسلمية وعقلانية لمناقشة وجهات نظرهم المختلفة لأن الهان كما أكد، لم يكونوا أعداء الأويغور، على الرغم من موقفهم التمييزي والعنيف تجاههم في كثير من الأحيان. [v]
من خلال موقعه على الإنترنت، روج إلهام لمقاربة سلمية وشاملة ولم يحرض أو يشجع أبدًا على العنف. كان حريصًا على التعارض مع القوانين الحكومية أو الاتفاقيات الأساسية الموجودة في المجتمع المدني. [vi] ومع ذلك، بدأ الموقع في جذب غضب الحكومة الصينية التي أغلقت الموقع لأول مرة في يونيو ٢٠٠٨ قبل أن تستضيف الصين الألعاب الأولمبية. استندت الحكومة إلى سبب إغلاق الموقع على أساس أنها نشرت صلات بالمتطرفين الأويغور المقيمين في الخارج. [vii] في ٥ يوليو ٢٠٠٩، أدت أعمال الشغب و الاحتجاج العرقية الكبرى في أورومتشي عاصمة إقليم شينجيانغ، والهجمات الإرهابية المستوحاة من قراءة أكثر عدوانية للإسلام [viii] إلى مقتل ما يقرب من ٢٠٠ شخص واحتجاز ١٨٠٠٠، وما بين ٣٤ إلى ٣٧ حالة اختفاء. بعد ذلك تحدث إلهام علانية عن الحدث ونشر أسماء ووجوه أولئك الذين بقوا مختفين، مما أدى إلى قرار حبسه المنزلي ثم اعتقاله المعزل في ١٤يوليو و مرت قرابة خمسة أسابيع إلى أن تم إطلاق سراحه بعد ضغوط دولية. [ix]

في لحظة حاسمة أخرى عندما كان إلهام وابنته جوهر في المطار على وشك متن طائرة متجهة إلى الولايات المتحدة ليشن إلهام عمله في جامعة إنديانا كباحث زائر. أوقفته السلطات وتعرض للضرب والاحتجاز ورأى ابنته جوهر يتم وضعها على متن الطائرة إلى الولايات المتحدة وحدها. [x] كان هذا الحادث بمثابة ذروة قصة إلهام. في أكتوبر ٢٠١٣، تحطمت مركبة عائلة من الأويغور على جسر جينغشوي في ميدان تيانانمن، و اشتعلت فيه النيران. فوصفته الحكومة الصينية هذا الحادث بأنه هجوم إرهابي، مما أدى إلى زيادة ظهور إلهام على وسائل الإعلام الأجنبية لبريطانيا وفرنسا والولايات المتحدة، وأدى إلى اصطدام “رجال الشرطة السياسية” بسيارة إلهام في الثاني من نوفمبر وهو في طريقه إلى المطار لاصطحاب والدته. استخدمت السلطات العنف والترهيب، وأصدرت تهديدات لحياة أسرته إذا لم يتوقف عن التحدث إلى وسائل الإعلام الأجنبية. [xi] مع الضغط المتزايد على إلهام للتوقف عن صوت رأيه للإعلام، بدأ في التعبير عن قلقه بشأن سلامته لأصدقائه المقربين̣ و من هذا المنطلق٬ شعر بأهمية صوته مما أدى في اتصال هاتفي لمهراي عبد العلم، مراسلة خدمة الأويغور لإذاعة آسيا الحرة. فأخبرها بالقلق الذي يشعر به٬ و بأن اشتد مراقبة السلطات عليه٬ و أراد أخر كلماته تسجل و تنشر بعد ان يتم اعتقاله.

اعتقال وانتهاكات، ومحاكمة صورية
في يناير ٢٠١٤، داهم حوالي ٢٠ شرطياً شقة إلهام في بكين وضربوه أمام طفليه الصغيرين. احتجزوه وأغلقوا موقعه الالكتروني بشكل مؤبد. في اليوم التالي ، أوضح المتحدث باسم وزارة الخارجية الصينية هونغ لي أنه “محتجز جنائياً”. تم الافصاح عن التهم المتعلقة باحتجازه في فبراير عندما أعلن مكتب الأمن العام اعتقاله رسميًا بتهمة “الانفصالية” – وهي تهمة غامضه تسمح بعقوبة الإعدام، ولتجنيد أتباع من موقعه على الإنترنت. [xiii] أثار اعتقاله موجة من الدعم لإلهام لأنه جادل بوضوح ضد دعوات استقلال شينجيانغ وكان لصالح أن تبقى المنطقة جزء من الصين̣ نشر موقع ʼفورين بوليسيʽ تحليلهم على العديد من مقالات إلهام المخبأة كجزء من سجله الاستدلالي، ولم يجدوا في أي مكان أي تعبير مباشر أو غير مباشر عن الانفصال أو الاستقلال. احتُجز إلهام في مكان لم يفصح عنه لمدة خمسة أشهر، ومُنع من أي اتصال بالعائلة أو الأصدقاء̣ ومُنع من مقابلة محاميه، لي فانغبينغ، حتى ٢٦ يونيو، عندما أفاد لي أن إلهام أصيب بالوهن بسبب تقييده بالأصفاد خلال أول ٢٠ يومًا من تاريخ اعتقاله وحُرم من الطعام الحلال في الأيام العشرة الأولى من شهر مارس / آذار. تشكل هذه الأفعال انتهاكات للقانون الدولي ويمكن القول بأنها تندرج في نطاق أفعال المعاملة أو العقوبة القاسية أو اللاإنسانية أو المهينة. يعتقد الكثيرون ويخشون أن إلهام ربما قد تعرض الى التعذيب.

لم ير إلهام عائلته إلا بعد ثمانية أشهر من محاكمته المتعجلة والجائرة. تمت إدانته و الحكم عليه بالسجن المؤبد بحلول ٢٣ سبتمبر، لكنه أنكر جميع التهم الموجهة إليه. [xvi] أثناء المحاكمة، قال المدعون إن إلهام كان يصور الإرهابيين على أنهم أبطال في دروسه، ويدول “مسألة الأويغور”، و استخدم من شهائد الطلاب التي تم الحصول عليها بالإكراه٬ و كانت هذه التهم دون دليل قاطع. تعرض بعض الطلاب لعمليات التفتيش القسري بعد اعتقال إلهام، وتم اعتقالهم، وظل بعضهم في عداد المفقودين لفترات طويلة، مما يسلط الضوء على محاولة السلطات بناء قضية تجريم زعمت أن إلهام لم يكن الشخص المسالم الذي يدعي به. بدلا من ذلك فتزعم السلطات بأنه شخص خطير في نظر الأمن الصيني وكان لا بد من إسكاته من خلال الحبس. [xvii]

ما وراء كفاح إلهام
ولكن ما هي قضية إلهام توهتي حقا؟ كانت التوترات بين الأويغور وهان موجودة منذ تأسيس جمهورية الصين الشعبية (جمهورية الصين الشعبية)، وتشتعل في جيوب من الاضطرابات التي تنفجر من وقت لآخر وتؤدي إلى سياسات أشد قسوة ضد الأويغور̣ خاصة بعد أن تولى شي جين بينغ رئاسة الحكومة في مارس ٢٠١٣ وكشف لاحقًا عن “الخطة الإستراتيجية الكبرى” لشينجيانغ في ديسمبر من نفس العام ، حيث أعرب إلهام عن مخاوفه من أن الضغط على الأويغور في ازدياد. [xviii] صاغت الحكومة الصينية القضية على أنها “مسألة الأويغور” أو “مشكلة شينجيانغ” التي حاولوا حلها من خلال عملية التشرد، وهي عملية كانت موجودة منذ قرون عديدة في التاريخ الصيني والتي تستلزم الترويج لـ الاستيعاب بدلا من التكامل. وشجعت العملية فيما بعد الصينيين الهان على الهجرة إلى منطقة شينجيانغ من خلال السياسات التي فضلت الهان على الأويغور، مما أدى إلى اختلال التوازن في التنمية الاجتماعية والاقتصادية. وقع إلهام ضحية لاستخدام الصين التكنولوجيا للرقابة، حيث يمكن حتى اليوم لمنشورة واحدة على تطبيق سينا وهو الشبيه بالتويتر أن تهبط بمؤلفها ي السجن إذا بدا أنها تنتقد الحكومة الصينية ولو بشكل غير مباشر. [xix] سجن إلهام يثبت أن الحكومة الصينية لا تعترف بالعلاقة بين الأويغور والهان.

ردًا على الهجوم الإرهابي المفترض من قبل الأويغور على الهان الصينيين في محطة قطار كونمينغ في مارس ٢٠١٤، أعلنت الحكومة “حرب الشعب على الإرهاب” واستهدفت العلماء والنشطاء والصحفيين والكتاب ومحامي حقوق الإنسان طوال عام ٢٠١٤. [ xx]

التناقض المحوري هو أن الإنترنت يعمل كأداة أساسية لربط البشر عبر الحدود الجغرافية والاجتماعية والثقافية واللغوية والتي تتم عليها الكثير من التجارة والاتصالات في هذا العصر. بدلاً من ذلك ، يمنع ʼجدار الحماية العظيمʽ التابع للحكومة الصينية استهلاك و دخول المحتوى الأجنبي الى الصين٬ ويستخدم الإنترنت كأداة شرسة لفرض رقابة على المحتوى الرقمي والتحكم فيه وفقا لصورة الحكومة الصينية̣ أيضا فيتم تجريم انتشار “الشائعات” عبر الإنترنت وإنشاء شرط التسجيل المسبق لأي حساب عبر الإنترنت يشارك الآراء أو البيانات السياسية.[xxi]

بصفتي مؤلف هذه المقالة ، ومع زملائي في Broken Chalk ، أشعر بألفة وثيقة مع القصة المأساوية لإلهام توهتي والعديد من الآخرين أمثاله لأنني أيضًا لدي مدونة شخصية حيث أناقش مخاوفي حول العالم الحالي. إن ممارسة حرية التعبير بالطريقة التي فعلها إلهام من خلال “مدونة بريدج” ليست جريمة ، ولا يجب أن يصنف إلهام ظلمًا بأنه داعم للإرهاب، أو بائع مخدرات، أو بائع أسلحة، أو عميل أمريكي. لقد سعى حقًا إلى جعل الأويغور والهان ينخرطون في محادثات، ويتغاضون عن خلافاتهم، ويصبحوا أكثر اتحادًا كأشخاص عاديين. اختار استخدام طرق سلمية ومستنيرة لتثقيف الآخرين حول الأويغور، و يعارض السرد الذي يصورهم على أنهم إرهابيون ومخاطر أمنية على روح المجتمع الصيني أو أساسه. بدلاً من ذلك، أصبح إلهام شهيدًا سياسيًا للأويغور العرقيين في شينجيانغ، وحصل على العديد من الجوائز للدفاع عن حقوق الإنسان والحريات والسعي إلى توسيعها، [xxii] و لا يزال يلقي الضوء على اعدم استقرار الأويغور في معسكرات الاعتقال في الصين منذ عام 2017 ، حيث تعرض العديد من انتهاكات حقوق الإنسان بشكل الضرب والتعذيب والاغتصاب والقتل والسخرة وتعقيم نساء الأويغور. [xxiii]
يُذكر إلهام على أنه يتمتع بالمعرفة والشجاعة ولديه دافع وتصميم للقتال من أجل الأويغور، والحفاظ على مبدأه في مواجهة الظلم والترهيب من قبل السلطات الصينية.

* لقراءة ومعرفة المزيد عن إلهام توهتي ، هناك منشور حديث بعنوان “نحن الأويغور ليس لدينا قول: كاتب معتقل يتحدث” (Verso Books). إنها سلسلة من المقالات والمقالات التي جمعتها إلهام قبل اعتقاله. يتوفر إصدار ورقي الغلاف والكتاب الإلكتروني على: https://bit.ly/3wiP6Mv

* ملاحظة المؤلف: يتم استخدام اسمه الأول في جميع أجزاء المقالة. في ثقافة الأويغور ، يشير اسمه الأخير “توهتي” إلى اسم والده ، بمثابة القول بأن إلهام هو ابن توهتي.

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Ilham Tohti: An Activist Smiling in the Face of Injustice

المصادر

[i] Kennedy, H. (2022) ‘We Uyghur’s Have No Say by Ilham Tohti Review – A People Ignored’. The Guardian. Available online from: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/mar/09/we-uyghurs-have-no-say-ilham-tohti-review-background-genocide-china [Accessed on 20/03/2022].
[ii] Makinen, J. (2014) ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’. Los Angeles Times. Available online from: https://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-china-detention-professor-20140117-story.html#axzz2qljh0LfJ [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Wong, E. (2014) ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’. The New York Times. Available online from: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/18/world/asia/separatism-trial-of-ilham-tohti-uighur-scholar-begins-in-china.html?_r=0 [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Wertime, D. (2014) ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/media/internet-where-nobody-says-anything [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Amnesty International, ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti: Levenslang Gevangengezet’. Available online from: https://www.amnesty.nl/wat-we-doen/themas/sport-en-mensenrechten/ilham-tohti [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Denyer, S. & Rauhala, E. (2016) ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’. The Washington Post. Available online from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/to-beijings-dismay-jailed-uighur-scholar-wins-human-rights-award/2016/10/11/d07dff8c-8f85-11e6-81c3-fb2fde4e7164_story.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’. Available online from: https://pen.org/advocacy-case/ilham-tohti/ [Accessed on 19/03/2022].
[iii] Woeser, T. (2009) ‘Interview with Uyghur Scholar Ilham Tohti’. YouTube. Available online from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQT0iN1nMk8 [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also Johnson, I. (2014) ‘”They Don’t Want Moderate Uighurs”’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/library/nyrb-china-archive/they-dont-want-moderate-uighurs [Accessed on 19/03/2022].
[iv] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’; see also Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress. Available online from: https://humanrightscommission.house.gov/defending-freedom-project/prisoners-by-country/China/Ilham%20Tohti#:~:text=Biography%3A%20Ilham%20Tohti%20is%20a,regional%20autonomy%20laws%20in%20China. [Accessed on 19/03/2022].
[v] ) ‘Interview With Uyghur Scholar Ilham Tohti’; see also PEN America (2014) ‘Ilham Tohti: 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award Winner’. YouTube. Available online from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm6YLWrnKPw [Accessed 19/03/2022].
[vi] Ibid.
[vii] ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.
[viii] known as 7/5 due to it being a sensitive date in China
[ix] ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also Tohti, I. (2013) ‘The Wounds of the Uyghur People Have Not Healed’. Radio Free Asia. Available online from: https://www.rfa.org/english/commentaries/wounds-07052013134813.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’.
[x] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’.
[xi] Ibid.; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also Tohti, I. (2013) ‘Uyghur Scholar Tohti Speaks About His Concerns Before Detention’. Radio Free Asia. Available online from: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/interview-02072014182032.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’.
[xii] ‘Uyghur Scholar Tohti Speaks About His Concerns Before Detention’; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’.
[xiii] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’; see also ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.
[xiv] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’
[xv] Ibid.; see also ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’; see also Cao, Y. (2014) ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/china-2014-through-eyes-human-rights-advocate [Accessed on 20/03/2022].
[xvi] ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti: Levenslang Gevangengezet’; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’.
[xvii] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’.
[xviii] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also European Foundation for South Asia Studies, ‘Language, Religion, and Surveillance: A Comparative Analysis of China’s Governance Models in Tibet and Xinjiang’. Available online from: https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/comparative-analysis-of-governance-models-in-tibet-and-xinjiang/ [Accessed on 20/03/2022].
[xix] Ibid.; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.
[xx] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’.
[xxi] Ibid.
[xxii] Ilham Tohti is the recipient of PEN America’s 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, the 2016 Martin Ennals Award for human rights defenders who show deep commitment and face great personal risk, Liberal International’s 2017 Prize for Freedom, was nominated in 2019 and 2020 for the Nobel Peace Prize, and awarded in 2019 Freedom Award by Freedom House, the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
[xxiii] ‘We Uyghur’s Have No Say by Ilham Tohti Review – A People Ignored’; see also ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti.

* صورة الغلاف مأخوذة من:

https://www.omct.org/fr/ressources/declarations/ilham-tohti-2016-martin – ennals-award-laureate-for-human-rights-defender

By Ruwaifa Al-Riyami Ilham Tohti People’s Republic of China Uyghur people إلهام توهتي الأويغور الصين العربية

Илхам Тохти: Активист, усмихващ се в лицето на несправедливостта

Илхам Тохти е бивш уйгурски професор по икономика в пекинския университет Миндзу, наскоро наричан „Китайският Мандела“ от „Guardian” е арестуван на 14 Януари, 2014 година. Той е обвинен в подбуждане на сепаратизъм, етническа омраза, и подкрепа на терористични дейности, поради неговата открита критика към политиката на китайското правителството. След ареста му,има двудневен открит процес между 17 и 18 септември, 2014 г., който води до осъждането му на доживотен затвор. Това шокира много чуждестранни и местни наблюдатели, приятели и организации, които подкрепиха Илхам. Илхам е виден активист, който се опитваше да запази езиковите, културните и религиозните права на малцинствените етнически уйгури. Уйгурите са тюркоезична и обикновено мюсюлманска група, живееща предимно в Синдзян Уйгурският автономен регион (СУАР от сега нататък). Илхам е наричан „съвестта“ на уйгурския народ.

Предистория

Активистката кариера на Илхам започва през 1994 г., когато той започва да пише за нарушенията, които уйгурите в СУАР претърпяват. През 2006 г. той променя полето си за изява, като той и други учени създават уебсайта „Уйгур Онлайн“ (uighurbiz.org). Уебсайтът е бил платформа на китайски език, който се е стремял да преодолее продължаващото разделение между уйгурското малцинство и китайците Хан. Платформата на кратко, е служила на Илхам като пространство, в което гласа на уйгурите да бъде чут в страната и в чужбина. Той задълбочава темата как тежкото положение на уйгурите ги кара да се чувстват пренебрегнати от цялото общество и забравени от китайското правителство по отношение на социално-икономическото развитие. Илхам кани ханци на платформа за мирен и рационален дебат върху техните различни възгледи, защото както той подчертава, ханците не са врагове на уйгурите.

Чрез своя уебсайт, Илхам насърчава мирен подход и нито веднъж не подбужда или насърчава насилие. Той внимава да не наруши правителствени закони или основните споразумения, които съществуват в гражданското общество. Въпреки това, сайтът започва да привлича вниманието на китайското правителство, което забранява сайта за първи път през 2008 г., преди Китай да е домакин на Олимписйките игри. Правителството обяснява спирането на уебсайта с това, че на него се публикуват връзки с така наречените уйгурски екстремисти базирани в чужбина. Големите етнически бунтове в Урумчи, столицата на СУАР, и терористичните атаки, вдъхновени от по-агрсивното разбиране на исляма, водят до около 200 убити, 18 000 задържани и към 35 изчезнали, на 5 Юли, 2009 г. След случая, Илхам открито говори за инцидента и публикува имената и лицата на онези, които са изчезнали. Това доведе до неговия домашен арест и по-късно задържане в арест за 5 седмици, докато след международен натиск, не е бил освободен.

Друг отличителен момент от живота на Илхам се случва, когато той и дъщеря му Джухър са на летището, за да хванат самолет към САЩ, където Илхам е поканен да бъде гостуващ лектор. Илхам бил спрян от властите, задържан и бит, докато гледал как качват дъщеря му на самолет за САЩ сама. Този момент бележи кулминацията в историята на Илхам. През 2013 г. уйгурско семейство катастрофира с джипа си на моста Джингшуй. Китайското правителство го определя като терористичен акт, което впоследствие води до засилване на интереса към Илхам Тохти от други държави. Същата година на 2 ноември, когато Илхам е на път към летището, за да вземе майка си, политически полицаи се блъскат в колата на Илхам. Властите използват заплахи и сплашване към Илхам, както и към семейството му, ако той не престане да комуникира с чуждестранни медии. С натиска върху себе си, той започва да изразява безпокойството си, че не е в безопастност. Дори пророчески, в разговор с Михрай Абделим, репортер на уйгурската служба за радио Свободна Азия, че наблюдението върху него от агентите на държавна сигурност се е увеличило, и че скоро гласът му ще бъде заглушен. Въз основа на тези притеснения, той моли последните му думи да бъдат пуснати в ефир едва след като бъде задържан.

Арест, насилие и открит процес

През Януари, 2014 г. около 20 полицаи нападат дома на Илхам и го пребиват пред очите на двете му малки деца. Те го задържат, а сайтът му е свален завинаги. На следващия ден, Хонг Лей, говорител на министерство на външните работи, обяснява, че Илхам е задържан за „криминални действия“. Обвиненията за задържането му са обявени февруари, като официалната версия е, че е обвинен в „сепаратизъм“, неясен доклад и никакви доказателства, които обаче водят до потенциална смъртна присъда. Арестът му предизвиква сериозна подкрепа като става ясно, че той се е противопоставил на призивите за независимост на СУАР и е за това регионът да остане част от Китай. Уебсайтът „Foreign Policy” публикува техния анализ на някои от запазените статии на Илхам от неговия доказателствен материал и никъде не намират пряк или косвен израз на сепаратизъм или искане на независимост. Илхам е бил държан на тайно място в продължение на 5 месеца, без достъп до никакъв контакт, както със семейство и приятели, така и с неговия адвокат Ли Фангпин. Това продължава до 26 юни, когато Ли съобщава, че Илхам е бил окован в първите 20 дни от задържането му е било отказвано храна в продължение на 10 дни. Тези действия представляват нарушения на международното право и със сигурност попадат в обхвата на жестокост, унизителност и брутализъм спрямо задържан. Мнозина вярват, че Илхам Тохти е бил изтезаван в продължение на месеци.

Илхам вижда семейството си само веднъж, осем месеца след задържането му. Ускореният процес признава Илхам за виновен и той е осъден на доживотен затвор макар и да отрича всички обвинения срещу себе си. По време на процеса, прокурорите твърдят, че Илхам представя терористите като герои в часовете си, интернационализира уйгурския въпрос и дори се възползва от показания на студенти, които е принудил да го подкрепят. Някои от студентите са били принудително претърсвани, задържани, а някои са изчезнали в периода на делото. Тези действия помагат на прокурорите да съставят уличаващо дело, твърдящо, че Илхам не е миролюбивият човек за, който се представя, а точно обратното.

Зад борбата на Илхам

За какво наистина е делото срещу Илхам Тохти? Уйгурско-ханските отношения съществуват от основаването на китайската народна република (КНР), които въвеждат по-сурови политики срещу уйгурите , особено след като Си Дзинпин поема властта на Китай през март 2013 г. По-късно Дзинпин разкрива „големия стратегически план“, за СУАР, като Илхам изразява притесненията си, че натискът върху уйгурите е на път да се засили. Китайското правителство определя случая като „Уйгурски въпрос“ или „проблема на Синцзян“, който те са се опитали да разрешат чрез процес на синификация. По-късно той насърчи хан китайците да мигрират в региона чрез политики, които облагодетелстваха хан, за сметка на уйгурите, което води до социално-икономически дисбаланс. Илхам е жертва на китайската цензура на медиите, където дори днес, приложението Сина Уейбо,подобно на Туитър, може да вкара автор в затвора, ако явно критикува правителството. Лишаването от свобода на Илхам, доказва, че китайското правителство не приема хан и уйгури за равни. В отговор на предполагаемата терористична атака от уйгурите срещу ханците на гарата в Кунмин през 2014 г., правителството обявява народна война срещу терора. Основно противоречие е, че интернет служи като основен инструмент за търговия и комуникация, а вместо това Китай използва „Голяма защитна стена“, за да блокира навлизането на чуждо съдържание. Китай използва интернет като инструмент за разбиване, цензуриране и контрол на цивилните мнения в пространството. Китай намира за криминално разпространението на слухове в мрежата и изисква предварителна регистрация на всеки акаунт, който изказва мнение по политически въпроси.

Като автор на тази статия, заедно с моите колеги от “Broken Chalk”, изпитвам истинско състрадание към Илхам и хората като него, тъй като и аз също имам собствен блог, в който обсъждам опасенията си по текущи глобални проблеми. Свободното изразяване, по начина по, който Илхам го прави не е престпление, нито трябва да го прави поддръжник на тероризма, търговец на наркотици, продавач на оръжия или американски агент. Той наистина се е стремял да накара уйгурите и ханците да участват в дискусии, да пренебрегнат различията си и да станат по-обединени. Той избира да използва мирен метод, с който да образова другите за уйгурите, да премахне представата, че народът му са терористи и превратаджии и искат да свалят китайското правителство. За сметка на това, той стана политически мъченик, получавайки множество награди за стремежа си за разширяване на човешките права. Той се опитва да спаси народа си от многобройните нарушения на човешките права, които уйгурите изпитват от 2017 г. до сега под формата на побои, изтезания, изнасилвания, убийства и други.

В крайна сметка Илхам ще остане в историята, като осведомен, смел, притежаващ смелостта да се бори за етническите уйгури, като държи главата си вдигната пред лицето на несправедливостта.

За да прочетете и научите повече за Илхам Тохти, има скорошна публикация, наречена „Ние уйгурите нямаме дума: „един затворен писател говори“ (Verso Books). Това е поредица от събрани есета и статии от Илхам преди задържането му. Версия с меки корици и електронна книга са достъпни на: https://bit.ly/3wiP6Mv

Written by Karl Baldacchino English Version : https://brokenchalk.org/ilham-tohti-an-activist-smiling-in-the-face-of-injustice/

Edited by Olga Ruiz Pilato

Translated by: Ivan Evstatiev

Sources;

[i] Kennedy, H. (2022) ‘We Uyghur’s Have No Say by Ilham Tohti Review – A People Ignored’. The Guardian. Available online from: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/mar/09/we-uyghurs-have-no-say-ilham-tohti-review-background-genocide-china [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[ii] Makinen, J. (2014) ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’. Los Angeles Times. Available online from: https://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-china-detention-professor-20140117-story.html#axzz2qljh0LfJ [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Wong, E. (2014) ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’. The New York Times. Available online from: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/18/world/asia/separatism-trial-of-ilham-tohti-uighur-scholar-begins-in-china.html?_r=0 [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Wertime, D. (2014) ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/media/internet-where-nobody-says-anything [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Amnesty International, ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti: Levenslang Gevangengezet’. Available online from: https://www.amnesty.nl/wat-we-doen/themas/sport-en-mensenrechten/ilham-tohti [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Denyer, S. & Rauhala, E. (2016) ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’. The Washington Post. Available online from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/to-beijings-dismay-jailed-uighur-scholar-wins-human-rights-award/2016/10/11/d07dff8c-8f85-11e6-81c3-fb2fde4e7164_story.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’. Available online from: https://pen.org/advocacy-case/ilham-tohti/ [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[iii] Woeser, T. (2009) ‘Interview with Uyghur Scholar Ilham Tohti’. YouTube. Available online from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQT0iN1nMk8 [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also Johnson, I. (2014) ‘”They Don’t Want Moderate Uighurs”’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/library/nyrb-china-archive/they-dont-want-moderate-uighurs [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[iv] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’; see also Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress. Available online from: https://humanrightscommission.house.gov/defending-freedom-project/prisoners-by-country/China/Ilham%20Tohti#:~:text=Biography%3A%20Ilham%20Tohti%20is%20a,regional%20autonomy%20laws%20in%20China. [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[v] ) ‘Interview With Uyghur Scholar Ilham Tohti’; see also PEN America (2014) ‘Ilham Tohti: 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award Winner’. YouTube. Available online from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm6YLWrnKPw [Accessed 19/03/2022].

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[viii] known as 7/5 due to it being a sensitive date in China

[ix] ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also Tohti, I. (2013) ‘The Wounds of the Uyghur People Have Not Healed’. Radio Free Asia. Available online from: https://www.rfa.org/english/commentaries/wounds-07052013134813.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’.

[x] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’.

[xi] Ibid.; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also Tohti, I. (2013) ‘Uyghur Scholar Tohti Speaks About His Concerns Before Detention’. Radio Free Asia. Available online from: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/interview-02072014182032.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’.

[xii] ‘Uyghur Scholar Tohti Speaks About His Concerns Before Detention’; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’.

[xiii] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’; see also ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[xiv] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’

[xv] Ibid.; see also ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’; see also Cao, Y. (2014) ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/china-2014-through-eyes-human-rights-advocate [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[xvi] ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti: Levenslang Gevangengezet’; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’.

[xvii] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’.

[xviii] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also European Foundation for South Asia Studies, ‘Language, Religion, and Surveillance: A Comparative Analysis of China’s Governance Models in Tibet and Xinjiang’. Available online from: https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/comparative-analysis-of-governance-models-in-tibet-and-xinjiang/ [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[xix] Ibid.; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[xx] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’.

[xxi] Ibid.

[xxii] Ilham Tohti is the recipient of PEN America’s 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, the 2016 Martin Ennals Award for human rights defenders who show deep commitment and face great personal risk, Liberal International’s 2017 Prize for Freedom, was nominated in 2019 and 2020 for the Nobel Peace Prize, and awarded in 2019 Freedom Award by Freedom House, the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

[xxiii] ‘We Uyghur’s Have No Say by Ilham Tohti Review – A People Ignored’; see also ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti.

*cover photo taken from: https://www.omct.org/fr/ressources/declarations/ilham-tohti-2016-martin-ennals-award-laureate-for-human-rights-defender

beatings forced labour Ilham Tohti killings People’s Republic of China Posted by Beyza Nur Dag rape torture Uyghur people Uyghur-Han tensions Xinjiang

Ilham Tohti: el activista que mantiene su sonrisa a pesar de la injusticia

Ilham Tohti*, exprofesor de economía de la etnia uigur en la Universidad Minzu de Beijing, al que The Guardian se refirió recientemente como el ‘Mandela de China’, fue detenido el 14 de enero de 2014 por incitar al separatismo, el odio étnico y apoyar actividades terroristas debido a su crítica abierta hacia las políticas gubernamentales chinas. Después de su arresto tuvo lugar, entre el 17 y el 18 de septiembre de 2014, un juicio que condujo a su condena y sentencia de cadena perpetua. El juicio impactó a muchos observadores, amigos y organizaciones nacionales y extranjeras que apoyaron a Ilham debido a su prominente, intimidante y principal activismo en defensa de la autonomía y los derechos lingüísticos, culturales y religiosos de la minoría étnica uigur. Los uigures son un grupo de habla turca y comúnmente musulmán, que habita principalmente en la Región Autónoma Uigur de Xinjiang (en adelante, XUAR). Se ha hecho referencia a Ilham como “la conciencia del pueblo uigur”.

Contexto

El activismo de Ilham comenzó en 1994 cuando comenzó a escribir sobre las violaciones sufridas por los uigures en la XUAR. En 2006, cambió la atención online cuando él y otros académicos cofundaron el sitio web ‘Uyghur Online’ en uighurbiz.org. El sitio web era una plataforma en idioma chino que buscaba salvar las divisiones entre la minoría uigur y los chinos Han. La plataforma sirvió esencialmente como un espacio en el que Ilham podía hacer que la voz uigur se escuchara a nivel nacional e internacional. Profundizó en cómo la difícil situación de los uigures los contuvo sintiéndose menospreciados por la sociedad en general y olvidados por el gobierno chino con respecto al desarrollo socioeconómico. Ilham invitaría a los Han a una plataforma abierta, pacífica y racional para discutir y debatir sus diferentes puntos de vista porque, como enfatizó, los Han no eran enemigos de los uigures, a pesar de su actitud discriminatoria y, a menudo, violenta hacia estos últimos.

A través de su sitio web, Ilham promovió un enfoque pacífico y holístico y nunca incitó ni alentó la violencia. Tuvo cuidado de no chocar con las leyes gubernamentales o los acuerdos subyacentes que existen en la sociedad civil. Sin embargo, el sitio web comenzó a atraer la ira del gobierno chino, que cerró el sitio web por primera vez en junio de 2008 antes de que China fuera sede de los Juegos Olímpicos. El gobierno razonó el cierre sobre la base de que publicitaba vínculos con los llamados extremistas uigures con sede en el extranjero. Los principales disturbios étnicos en Urumqi, la capital de la XUAR, y los ataques terroristas inspirados en una lectura más agresiva del islam el 5 de julio de 2009, resultaron en aproximadamente 200 muertos, 18.000 detenidos y entre 34 y 37 desapariciones. Después de esto, Ilham habló abiertamente sobre el incidente y publicó los nombres y rostros de los que seguían desaparecidos, lo que finalmente lo llevó a su arresto domiciliario y luego a su detención en régimen de incomunicación el 14 de julio durante aproximadamente cinco semanas hasta que, tras la presión internacional, fue liberado.

Otro momento crucial llegó cuando Ilham y su hija, Jewher, estaban en el aeropuerto para abordar un vuelo a los EE. UU. porque Ilham iba a ocupar un puesto en la Universidad de Indiana como profesor visitante. Las autoridades lo detuvieron, lo golpearon, lo detuvieron y vio que subían a Jewher sola en el vuelo a los EE. UU. Este incidente marcó el clímax de la historia de Ilham. En octubre de 2013, una familia uigur estrelló su todoterreno en el puente Jingshui de la plaza de Tiananmen, que había sido incendiado. El gobierno chino lo calificó como un ataque terrorista, lo que resultó en que Ilham aumentara su visibilidad en los medios extranjeros de Gran Bretaña, Francia y los EE. UU., y dio lugar a que la policía política embistiera el coche de Ilham el 2 de noviembre mientras iba encaminado al aeropuerto para recoger a su madre. Las autoridades utilizaron violencia e intimidación, amenazando de muerte a su familia si no dejaba de hablar con los medios de comunicación extranjeros. Con la presión marcada sobre Ilham para que dejara de expresar sus preocupaciones, comenzó a expresar su preocupación por su seguridad a sus amigos personales y, de manera un tanto profética, en una declaración telefónica a Mihray Abdilim, un reportero del Servicio Uigur para Radio Free Asia, que la vigilancia sobre él por parte de los agentes de seguridad del Estado había aumentado y sentía que su voz pronto sería silenciada. Basado en esta preocupación, pidió que sus últimas palabras fueran registradas y publicadas solo después de su detención.

Arresto, violaciones y un juicio espectáculo

En enero de 2014, alrededor de 20 policías allanaron el apartamento de Ilham en Beijing y lo golpearon frente a sus dos hijos pequeños. Lo detuvieron y cerraron permanentemente su sitio web. Al día siguiente, Hong Lei, portavoz del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de China, explicó que había sido “detenido criminalmente”. Los cargos por su detención se dieron a conocer en febrero cuando la Oficina de Seguridad Pública anunció su arresto formal por “separatismo” (un relato vago que permite la pena capital), y por reclutar seguidores en su sitio web. Su arresto desencadenó una ola de apoyo a Ilham con el argumento de que se había opuesto visiblemente a los llamados a la independencia de XUAR y estaba a favor de que la región siguiera siendo parte de China. El sitio web Foreign Policy publicó su análisis de varios de los artículos almacenados en caché de Ilham como parte de su registro probatorio, y en ninguna parte encontraron ninguna expresión directa o indirecta de separatismo o independencia. Ilham fue retenido en un lugar no revelado durante cinco meses, se le prohibió cualquier contacto con familiares o amigos, y se le impidió reunirse con su abogado, Li Fangping, hasta el 26 de junio, cuando Li informó que Ilham estaba debilitado por haber sido encadenado durante los primeros 20 días de su detención y se le negó comida Halal durante los primeros 10 días de marzo. Estos actos constituyen violaciones del derecho internacional y podría decirse que entran en el ámbito de los actos de trato o pena cruel, inhumano o degradante. Muchos creen y temen que Ilham posiblemente haya soportado torturas.

Ilham solo pudo volver a ver a su familia tras ocho meses de su juicio apresurado e injusto. Fue declarado culpable y condenado a cadena perpetua el 23 de septiembre, pero niega todos los cargos que se le imputan. Durante el juicio, los fiscales dijeron que Ilham estaba retratando a los terroristas como héroes en sus clases, internacionalizó la ‘cuestión uigur’ e hizo uso de testimonios de estudiantes que se supone que se obtuvieron bajo coacción. Después del arresto de Ilham, algunos estudiantes fueron sometidos a registros desnudos forzados, fueron detenidos y algunos de ellos permanecieron desaparecidos durante largos períodos, lo que destaca el intento de los fiscales de construir un caso incriminatorio alegando que Ilham no era la persona pacífica que pretendía ser, sino que era en cambio, peligroso a los ojos de la seguridad china y tuvo que ser silenciado mediante un encierre.

Detrás de la lucha de Ilham

Pero ¿de qué se trata realmente el caso de Ilham Tohti? Las tensiones entre los uigures y los Han han existido desde la fundación de la República Popular China (RPC), hirviendo a fuego lento en focos de disturbios que estallan de vez en cuando y desencadenan políticas más duras contra los uigures, especialmente después de que Xi Jinping asumiera el mando del gobierno en marzo de 2013 y más tarde diera a conocer el ‘gran plan estratégico’ para la XUAR en diciembre del mismo año, e Ilham expresó su preocupación de que la presión sobre los uigures estaba a punto de aumentar. El gobierno chino ha enmarcado el tema como la ‘cuestión uigur’ o el ‘problema de Xinjiang’ que ha intentado resolver a través de un proceso de sinificación, un proceso que ha existido durante muchos siglos en la historia china y que implica la promoción de la asimilación en lugar de integración. Más tarde, alentó a los chinos Han a emigrar a la región a través de políticas que favorecieron a los Han sobre los uigures y que dieron como resultado un desequilibrio en el desarrollo socioeconómico. Ilham fue víctima del uso de tecnología y leyes de censura en China, donde hoy, incluso una sola publicación en la aplicación similar a Twitter de Sina Weibo puede llevar a su autor a la cárcel si aparentemente critica al gobierno chino. El encarcelamiento de Ilham demuestra que el gobierno chino no reconoce el puente entre los uigures y los Han. En respuesta al supuesto ataque terrorista de los uigures contra los chinos Han en la estación de tren de Kunming en marzo de 2014, el gobierno declaró una ‘guerra popular contra el terror’ y atacó a académicos, activistas, periodistas, escritores y abogados de derechos humanos a lo largo de 2014. La contradicción subyacente es que Internet sirve como herramienta principal para conectar a los seres humanos a través de fronteras geográficas, sociales, culturales y lingüísticas y en la que se lleva a cabo gran parte del comercio y la comunicación actuales. En cambio, el ‘gran cortafuegos’ del gobierno chino bloquea el consumo de contenido extranjero para que no ingrese a China y utiliza Internet como una herramienta contundente para censurar y controlar el contenido digital de acuerdo con la narrativa aprobada de la imagen, los intereses y las políticas de China, criminalizando la difusión de ‘rumores’ online y estableciendo un requisito de registro previo para cualquier cuenta online que comparta opiniones o declaraciones políticas.

Como autor de este artículo, y junto con mis colegas de Broken Chalk, siento una estrecha afinidad con la trágica historia de Ilham Tohti y muchos otros como él porque yo también tengo un blog personal donde hablo de mis preocupaciones sobre asuntos mundiales actuales. Ejercer la libertad de expresión de la forma en que lo hizo Ilham a través de su ‘blog puente’ no es un delito, ni debe etiquetar injustamente a Ilham como simpatizante del terrorismo, traficante de drogas, vendedor de armas o agente estadounidense. Realmente buscó que los uigures y los han participaran en conversaciones, pasaran por alto sus diferencias y se unieran más como personas comunes. Eligió usar formas pacíficas e informadas de educar a otros sobre los uigures, oponiéndose a la narrativa que los pinta como terroristas, malvados y riesgos de seguridad para el ethos o la base de la sociedad china. En cambio, se convirtió en un mártir político para los uigures étnicos en XUAR, recibió numerosos premios por defender y buscar expandir los derechos humanos y las libertades, y un faro que continúa alumbrando la precaria situación que los uigures han enfrentado en los campos de internamiento de China desde 2017, donde numerosas violaciones de los derechos humanos toman la forma de palizas, torturas, violaciones, asesinatos, trabajos forzados y esterilización de mujeres uigures.

Hoy en día Ilham es recordado como conocedor y valiente y con el impulso y la determinación de luchar por la etnia uigur, manteniendo la cabeza en alto frente a la injusticia y la intimidación de las autoridades chinas.

* Para leer y aprender más sobre Ilham Tohti, hay una publicación reciente llamada “Nosotros los uigures no tenemos nada que decir: habla un escritor encarcelado” (Verso Books). Es una serie de ensayos y artículos recopilados por Ilham antes de su detención. Una versión en rústica y un libro electrónico se encuentran disponibles en: https://bit.ly/3wiP6Mv

Texto original escrito por Karl Baldacchino, accesible en https://brokenchalk.org/ilham-tohti-an-activist-smiling-in-the-face-of-injustice/

Traducido por Olga Ruiz Pilato

*Nota del autor: a lo largo del artículo se utiliza su primer nombre. En la cultura uigur, su apellido, ‘Tohti’, se refiere al nombre de su padre, similar a decir que Ilham es el hijo de Tohti.

FUENTES

Kennedy, H. (2022) ‘We Uyghur’s Have No Say by Ilham Tohti Review – A People Ignored’. The Guardian. Available online from: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/mar/09/we-uyghurs-have-no-say-ilham-tohti-review-background-genocide-china [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

Makinen, J. (2014) ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’. Los Angeles Times. Available online from: https://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-china-detention-professor-20140117-story.html#axzz2qljh0LfJ [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Wong, E. (2014) ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’. The New York Times. Available online from: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/18/world/asia/separatism-trial-of-ilham-tohti-uighur-scholar-begins-in-china.html?_r=0 [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Wertime, D. (2014) ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/media/internet-where-nobody-says-anything [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Amnesty International, ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti: Levenslang Gevangengezet’. Available online from: https://www.amnesty.nl/wat-we-doen/themas/sport-en-mensenrechten/ilham-tohti [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Denyer, S. & Rauhala, E. (2016) ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’. The Washington Post. Available online from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/to-beijings-dismay-jailed-uighur-scholar-wins-human-rights-award/2016/10/11/d07dff8c-8f85-11e6-81c3-fb2fde4e7164_story.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’. Available online from: https://pen.org/advocacy-case/ilham-tohti/ [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

Woeser, T. (2009) ‘Interview with Uyghur Scholar Ilham Tohti’. YouTube. Available online from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQT0iN1nMk8 [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also Johnson, I. (2014) “They Don’t Want Moderate Uighurs”. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/library/nyrb-china-archive/they-dont-want-moderate-uighurs [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’; see also Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress. Available online from: https://humanrightscommission.house.gov/defending-freedom-project/prisoners-by-country/China/Ilham%20Tohti#:~:text=Biography%3A%20Ilham%20Tohti%20is%20a,regional%20autonomy%20laws%20in%20China. [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

‘Interview With Uyghur Scholar Ilham Tohti’; see also PEN America (2014) ‘Ilham Tohti: 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award Winner’. YouTube. Available online from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm6YLWrnKPw [Accessed 19/03/2022].

‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also Tohti, I. (2013) ‘The Wounds of the Uyghur People Have Not Healed’. Radio Free Asia. Available online from: https://www.rfa.org/english/commentaries/wounds-07052013134813.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’.

PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’. See also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also Tohti, I. (2013) ‘Uyghur Scholar Tohti Speaks About His Concerns Before Detention’. Radio Free Asia. Available online from: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/interview-02072014182032.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’.

‘Uyghur Scholar Tohti Speaks About His Concerns Before Detention’; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’.

PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’; see also ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’. See also ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’; see also Cao, Y. (2014) ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/china-2014-through-eyes-human-rights-advocate [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

‘Academicus Ilham Tohti: Levenslang Gevangengezet’; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’.

‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’.

PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also European Foundation for South Asia Studies, ‘Language, Religion, and Surveillance: A Comparative Analysis of China’s Governance Models in Tibet and Xinjiang’. Available online from: https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/comparative-analysis-of-governance-models-in-tibet-and-xinjiang/ [Accessed on 20/03/2022]. See also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

Ilham Tohti is the recipient of PEN America’s 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, the 2016 Martin Ennals Award for human rights defenders who show deep commitment and face great personal risk, Liberal International’s 2017 Prize for Freedom, was nominated in 2019 and 2020 for the Nobel Peace Prize, and awarded in 2019 Freedom Award by Freedom House, the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

‘We Uyghur’s Have No Say by Ilham Tohti Review – A People Ignored’; see also ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti’.

*cover photo taken from: https://www.omct.org/fr/ressources/declarations/ilham-tohti-2016-martin-ennals-award-laureate-for-human-rights-defender

beatings forced labour Ilham Tohti killings People’s Republic of China Posted by Beyza Nur Dag rape torture Uyghur people Uyghur-Han tensions Xinjiang

Ilham Tohti : un militant souriant face à l’injustice

Ilham Tohti,* ancien professeur d’économie d’ ethnie ouïghoure à l’Université Minzu de Pékin, récemment qualifié de « Mandela chinois » par le Guardian, a été arrêté le 14 janvier 2014 pour incitation au séparatisme, à la haine ethnique et soutien aux activités terroristes en raison de ses critiques ouvertes envers le gouvernement chinois. À la suite de son arrestation, son procès de deux jours entre le 17 et le 18 septembre 2014, qui a conduit à sa condamnation et à sa peine d’emprisonnement à perpétuité, a été un grand choc pour de nombreux observateurs, amis et organisations étrangeres et nationales qui ont soutenu Ilham en raison de à son activisme proéminent, intimidant et avant tout pour la défense de l’autonomie, des droits linguistiques, culturels et religieux des minorités ethniques ouïghoures. Les Ouïghours sont un groupe turcophone et généralement musulman, habitant principalement dans la région autonome ouïghoure du Xinjiang (ci-après XUAR). Ilham a été qualifié de « conscience du peuple ouïghour »

Contexte

L’activisme d’Ilham a commencé en 1994 lorsqu’il a commencé à écrire sur les violations subies par les Ouïghours dans le XUAR. En 2006, il a attiré l’attention sur Internet lorsque lui et d’autres chercheurs ont cofondé le site Web «Uyghur Online» sur uighurbiz.org. Le site Web était une plate-forme en langue chinoise cherchant à combler les divisions en cours entre la minorité ouïghoure et les Chinois Han. La plate-forme servait essentiellement d’espace sur lequel Ilham pouvait faire entendre la voix ouïghoure au niveau national et international. Il s’est penché sur la façon dont le sort des Ouïghours les contenait, se sentant méprisés par la société en général et oubliés par le gouvernement chinois en ce qui concerne le développement socio-économique. Ilham invitait les Han à une plate-forme ouverte, pacifique et rationnelle pour discuter et débattre de leurs points de vue divergents car, comme il l’a souligné, les Han n’étaient pas les ennemis des Ouïghours, malgré leur attitude discriminatoire et souvent violente à leur égard.

Grâce à son site Web, Ilham a promu une approche pacifique et holistique et n’a jamais incité ou encouragé la violence. Il a pris soin de ne pas entrer en conflit avec les lois gouvernementales ou les accords sous-jacents qui existent dans la société civile.

Cependant, le site Web a commencé à attirer la colère du gouvernement chinois, qui a fermé le site Web pour la première fois en juin 2008 avant que la Chine n’accueille les Jeux Olympiques. Le gouvernement a justifié la fermeture en se basant sur le fait qu’il avait rendu public des liens avec des soi-disant extrémistes ouïghours basés à l’étranger. Les grandes émeutes ethniques à Urumqi, la capitale du XUAR, et les attentats terroristes inspirés par une lecture plus rigouriste de l’islam le 5 juillet 2009 ont fait environ 200 morts, 18 000 détenus et entre 34 et 37 disparitions. Suite à cela, Ilham a parlé ouvertement de l’incident et a publié les noms et les visages de ceux qui sont restés disparus, ce qui a finalement conduit à son assignation à résidence puis à sa détention au secret le 14 juillet pendant environ cinq semaines jusqu’à ce que, suite à la pression internationale, il soit libéré.

Un autre moment crucial est venu quand Ilham et sa fille, Jewher, étaient à l’aéroport pour embarquer sur un vol vers les États-Unis parce qu’Ilham devait occuper un poste à l’Université de l’Indiana en tant que chercheur invité. Il a été arrêté par les autorités, battu, détenu et a vu Jewher être mis seul sur le vol vers les États-Unis. Cet incident a marqué le point culminant de l’histoire d’Ilham. En octobre 2013, une famille ouïghoure a écrasé sa Jeep sur le pont Jingshui de la place Tiananmen, qui avait été incendié. Le gouvernement chinois l’a qualifiée d’attaque terroriste, ce qui a par conséquent permis à Ilham d’accroître sa visibilité dans les médias étrangers de Grande-Bretagne, de France et des États-Unis, et a conduit des “policiers politiques” à percuter la voiture d’Ilham le 2 novembre alors qu’il était en route pour l’aéroport pour récupérer sa mère. Les autorités ont eu recours à la violence et à l’intimidation, menaçant la vie de sa famille s’il n’arrêtait pas de parler aux médias étrangers. Avec la pression exercée sur Ilham pour qu’il cesse ses inquiétudes vocales, il a commencé à exprimer son inquiétude pour sa sécurité à ses amis personnels et, de manière quelque peu prophétique, dans une déclaration téléphonique à Mihray Abdilim, un journaliste du service ouïghour pour Radio Free Asia, cette surveillance sur lui par des agents de la sécurité de l’État ont augmenté et ont eu l’impression que sa voix allait bientôt être réduite au silence. Fort de cette inquiétude, il a demandé que ses derniers mots ne soient enregistrés et publiés qu’après sa détention.

Arrestation, violations et procès injuste

En janvier 2014, une vingtaine de policiers ont fait une descente dans l’appartement d’Ilham à Pékin et l’ont battu devant ses deux jeunes enfants. Ils l’ont détenu et fermé définitivement son site Internet. Le lendemain, Hong Lei, porte-parole du ministère chinois des Affaires étrangères, a expliqué qu’il avait été “détenu pour des motifs criminels”. Les accusations portées contre lui ont été révélées en février lorsque le Bureau de la sécurité publique a annoncé son arrestation officielle pour “séparatisme” – un vague récit qui autorise la peine capitale – et pour avoir recruté des adeptes sur son site Web.

Son arrestation a déclenché une vague de soutien à Ilham au motif qu’il s’était visiblement opposé aux appels à l’indépendance de XUAR et était favorable à ce que la région reste une partie de la Chine. Le site Web Foreign Policy a publié son analyse de plusieurs articles mis en cache d’Ilham dans le cadre de son dossier de preuve, et nulle part ils n’ont trouvé d’expression directe ou indirecte de séparatisme ou d’indépendance. Ilham a été détenu dans un lieu tenu secret pendant cinq mois, interdit de tout contact avec sa famille ou ses amis et empêché de rencontrer son avocat, Li Fangping, jusqu’au 26 juin, date à laquelle Li a rapporté qu’Ilham était énervé d’avoir été enchaîné pendant les 20 premiers jours de sa détention et s’est vu refuser de la nourriture halal pendant les 10 premiers jours de mars. Ces actes constituent des violations du droit international et relèvent sans doute du champ des actes de peines ou traitements cruels, inhumains ou dégradants. Beaucoup croient et craignent qu’Ilham ait peut-être enduré la torture.

Ilham n’a vu sa famille qu’après huit mois de son procès hâtif et inéquitable. Il a été reconnu coupable et condamné à la réclusion à perpétuité le 23 septembre, mais nie toutes les charges retenues contre lui. Au cours du procès, les procureurs ont déclaré qu’Ilham décrivait les terroristes comme des héros dans ses cours, avait internationalisé la « question ouïghoure » et avait utilisé des témoignages d’étudiants qui auraient été obtenus sous la contrainte. Certains étudiants ont fait l’objet de fouilles à nu forcées après l’arrestation d’Ilham, ont été détenus et certains d’entre eux sont restés portés disparus pendant de longues périodes, soulignant ainsi la tentative des procureurs de monter un dossier incriminant alléguant qu’Ilham n’était pas la personne pacifique qui se faisait passer pour, mais était au lieu de cela dangereux aux yeux de la sécurité chinoise et a dû être réduit au silence en étant enfermé.

Derrière la lutte d’Ilham

Mais de quoi parle vraiment le cas d’Ilham Tohti ? Les tensions entre les Ouïghours et les Han existent depuis la fondation de la République populaire de Chine (RPC), mijotant dans des poches de troubles éclatant de temps en temps et déclenchant des politiques plus dures contre les Ouïghours, en particulier après que Xi Jinping a pris la tête du gouvernement en mars 2013 et plus tard. a dévoilé le «grand plan stratégique» pour le XUAR en décembre de la même année, Ilham exprimant des inquiétudes quant au fait que la pression sur les Ouïghours était sur le point d’augmenter.

Le gouvernement chinois a défini le problème comme la « question ouïghoure » ou le « problème du Xinjiang » qu’il a tenté de résoudre par le biais d’un processus de sinification, qui existe depuis de nombreux siècles dans l’histoire chinoise et qui implique la promotion de l’assimilation plutôt que l’intégration. Il a ensuite encouragé les Chinois Han à migrer vers la région par le biais de politiques favorisant les Han par rapport aux Ouïghours, et qui ont entraîné un déséquilibre du développement socio-économique. Ilham a été victime de l’utilisation par la Chine de la technologie et des lois de censure, où aujourd’hui, même un seul message sur l’application de type Twitter de Sina Weibo peut envoyer son auteur en prison s’il critique apparemment le gouvernement chinois. L’emprisonnement d’Ilham prouve que le gouvernement chinois ne reconnaît pas le pont entre les Ouïghours et les Han. En réponse à la prétendue attaque terroriste des Ouïghours contre les Chinois Han dans la gare de Kunming en mars 2014, le gouvernement a déclaré une « guerre populaire contre le terrorisme » et a ciblé des universitaires, des militants, des journalistes, des écrivains et des avocats des droits de l’homme tout au long de l’année 2014. La contradiction sous-jacente est qu’Internet sert d’outil principal pour connecter les êtres humains au-delà des frontières géographiques, sociales, culturelles et linguistiques et sur lequel une grande partie du commerce et de la communication d’aujourd’hui a lieu. Au lieu de cela, le « grand pare-feu » du gouvernement chinois empêche la consommation de contenu étranger d’entrer en Chine et utilise Internet comme un outil matraquant pour censurer et contrôler le contenu numérique selon le récit approuvé de l’image, des intérêts et des politiques de la Chine, criminalisant la diffusion de « rumeurs » en ligne et établissant une exigence de pré-enregistrement pour tout compte en ligne partageant des opinions ou des déclarations politiques.

En tant qu’auteur de cet article, et avec mes collègues de Broken Chalk, je ressens une affinité étroite avec l’histoire tragique d’Ilham Tohti et de bien d’autres comme lui, car moi aussi, j’ai un blog personnel où je discute de mes préoccupations concernant l’actualité mondiale. affaires. Exercer la liberté d’expression de la manière dont Ilham l’a fait à travers son “blog de pont” n’est pas un crime, et cela ne devrait pas non plus étiqueter injustement Ilham comme un partisan du terrorisme, un trafiquant de drogue, un vendeur d’armes ou un agent américain. Il a vraiment cherché à amener les Ouïghours et les Han à engager des conversations, à ignorer leur différences et devenir plus unis en tant que personnes ordinaires. Il a choisi d’utiliser des moyens pacifiques et informés pour éduquer les autres sur les Ouïghours en s’opposant au récit qui les décrit comme des terroristes, des perversités et des risques pour la sécurité de l’éthos ou des fondements de la société chinoise. Au lieu de cela, il est devenu un martyr politique pour les Ouïghours de l’ethnie XUAR, recevant de nombreuses récompenses pour avoir défendu et cherché à étendre les droits de l’homme et les libertés, et un phare qui continue de faire la lumière sur la situation précaire à laquelle les Ouïghours sont confrontés dans les camps d’internement en Chine depuis 2017, où de nombreuses violations des droits humains prennent la forme de passages à tabac, de tortures, de viols, de meurtres, de travaux forcés et de stérilisation de femmes ouïghoures.

En fin de compte, On se souvient d’Ilham comme bien informé et courageux et comme ayant une volonté et une détermination à se battre pour les Ouïghours ethniques, gardant la tête haute face à l’injustice et à l’intimidation des autorités chinoises.

* To read and learn more about Ilham Tohti, there is a recent publication named ‘We Uyghurs Have No Say: An Imprisoned Writer Speaks’ (Verso Books). It is a series of collected essays and articles by Ilham prior to his detention. A paperback and eBook version are available at: https://bit.ly/3wiP6Mv

*Author’s note: throughout the article, his first name is used. In Uyghur culture, his last name, ‘Tohti’, refers to his father’s name, akin to saying that Ilham is the son of Tohti.

Écrit par Karl Baldacchino

Editée par Olga Ruiz Pilato

Traduit par Faical Al Azib [Ilham Tohti: An Activist Smiling in the Face of Injustice]

Sources;

[i] Kennedy, H. (2022) ‘We Uyghur’s Have No Say by Ilham Tohti Review – A People Ignored’. The Guardian. Available online from: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/mar/09/we-uyghurs-have-no-say-ilham-tohti-review-background-genocide-china [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[ii] Makinen, J. (2014) ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’. Los Angeles Times. Available online from: https://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-china-detention-professor-20140117-story.html#axzz2qljh0LfJ [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Wong, E. (2014) ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’. The New York Times. Available online from: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/18/world/asia/separatism-trial-of-ilham-tohti-uighur-scholar-begins-in-china.html?_r=0 [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Wertime, D. (2014) ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/media/internet-where-nobody-says-anything [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Amnesty International, ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti: Levenslang Gevangengezet’. Available online from: https://www.amnesty.nl/wat-we-doen/themas/sport-en-mensenrechten/ilham-tohti [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Denyer, S. & Rauhala, E. (2016) ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’. The Washington Post. Available online from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/to-beijings-dismay-jailed-uighur-scholar-wins-human-rights-award/2016/10/11/d07dff8c-8f85-11e6-81c3-fb2fde4e7164_story.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’. Available online from: https://pen.org/advocacy-case/ilham-tohti/ [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[iii] Woeser, T. (2009) ‘Interview with Uyghur Scholar Ilham Tohti’. YouTube. Available online from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQT0iN1nMk8 [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also Johnson, I. (2014) ‘”They Don’t Want Moderate Uighurs”’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/library/nyrb-china-archive/they-dont-want-moderate-uighurs [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[iv] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’; see also Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress. Available online from: https://humanrightscommission.house.gov/defending-freedom-project/prisoners-by-country/China/Ilham%20Tohti#:~:text=Biography%3A%20Ilham%20Tohti%20is%20a,regional%20autonomy%20laws%20in%20China. [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[v] ) ‘Interview With Uyghur Scholar Ilham Tohti’; see also PEN America (2014) ‘Ilham Tohti: 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award Winner’. YouTube. Available online from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm6YLWrnKPw [Accessed 19/03/2022].

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[viii] known as 7/5 due to it being a sensitive date in China

[ix] ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also Tohti, I. (2013) ‘The Wounds of the Uyghur People Have Not Healed’. Radio Free Asia. Available online from: https://www.rfa.org/english/commentaries/wounds-07052013134813.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’.

[x] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’.

[xi] Ibid.; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also Tohti, I. (2013) ‘Uyghur Scholar Tohti Speaks About His Concerns Before Detention’. Radio Free Asia. Available online from: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/interview-02072014182032.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’.

[xii] ‘Uyghur Scholar Tohti Speaks About His Concerns Before Detention’; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’.

[xiii] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’; see also ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[xiv] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’

[xv] Ibid.; see also ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’; see also Cao, Y. (2014) ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/china-2014-through-eyes-human-rights-advocate [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[xvi] ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti: Levenslang Gevangengezet’; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’.

[xvii] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’.

[xviii] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also European Foundation for South Asia Studies, ‘Language, Religion, and Surveillance: A Comparative Analysis of China’s Governance Models in Tibet and Xinjiang’. Available online from: https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/comparative-analysis-of-governance-models-in-tibet-and-xinjiang/ [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[xix] Ibid.; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[xx] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’.

[xxi] Ibid.

[xxii] Ilham Tohti is the recipient of PEN America’s 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, the 2016 Martin Ennals Award for human rights defenders who show deep commitment and face great personal risk, Liberal International’s 2017 Prize for Freedom, was nominated in 2019 and 2020 for the Nobel Peace Prize, and awarded in 2019 Freedom Award by Freedom House, the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

[xxiii] ‘We Uyghur’s Have No Say by Ilham Tohti Review – A People Ignored’; see also ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti.

*cover photo taken from: https://www.omct.org/fr/ressources/declarations/ilham-tohti-2016-martin-ennals-award-laureate-for-human-rights-defender

beatings forced labour Ilham Tohti killings People’s Republic of China Posted by Beyza Nur Dag rape torture Uyghur people Uyghur-Han tensions Xinjiang

Ilham Tohti: An Activist Smiling in the Face of Injustice

Ilham Tohti,* a former ethnic Uyghur economics professor at the Beijing Minzu University, recently referred to as ‘China’s Mandela’ by the Guardian,[i] was detained on January 14^th, 2014, for inciting separatism, ethnic hatred, and supporting terrorist activities because of his open criticism towards the Chinese governmental policies.[ii] Following his arrest, the two-day show trial between September 17^th and 18^th, 2014, that led to his condemnation and life imprisonment sentence, came as a great shock to many foreign as well as domestic observers, friends, and organizations who supported Ilham due to his prominent, intimidating, and foremost activism defending the autonomy, linguistic, cultural, and religious rights of minority ethnic Uyghurs. The Uyghurs are a Turkic-speaking and commonly Muslim group, mostly inhabiting in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (henceforth XUAR). Ilham has been referred to as ‘the Uyghur people’s conscience’.[iii]

Background

Ilham’s activism began in 1994 when he started writing about the violations suffered by Uyghurs in the XUAR. In 2006, he shifted the attention online when he and other scholars co-founded the website ‘Uyghur Online’ at uighurbiz.org. The website was a Chinese-language platform seeking to bridge the ongoing divisions between the Uyghur minority and the Han Chinese.[iv] The platform essentially served as a space on which Ilham could make the Uyghur voice heard domestically and internationally. It delved into how the Uyghur’s plight contained them feeling looked down upon by the general society and forgotten by the Chinese government regarding socio-economic development. Ilham would invite the Han to an open, peaceful, and rational platform to discuss and debate their differing views because, as he emphasised, the Han were not the enemies of the Uyghurs, despite their discriminatory and often violent attitude towards them.[v]

Through his website, Ilham promoted a peaceful and holistic approach and never once incited or encouraged violence. He was careful about clashing with governmental laws or underlying agreements that exist in civic society.[vi] However, the website began to attract the ire of the Chinese government, which shut the website down for the first time in June 2008 before China hosted the Olympic games. The government reasoned the shutdown on the basis that it publicised links to so-called Uyghur extremists based abroad.[vii] The major ethnic riots in Urumqi, the capital of the XUAR, and terrorist attacks inspired by a more aggressive reading of Islam on July 5^th, 2009,[viii] resulted in approximately 200 people killed, 18,000 detained, and between 34 to 37 disappearances. Following this, Ilham openly spoke about the incident and published the names and faces of those who remained disappeared, eventually leading to his house arrest and later incommunicado detention on July 14^th for roughly five weeks until, following international pressure, he was released.[ix]

Another crucial moment came when Ilham and his daughter, Jewher, were at the airport to board a flight to the U.S. because Ilham was to take up a position at Indiana University as a visiting scholar. He was stopped by the authorities, beaten, detained, and saw Jewher being put on the flight to the U.S. alone.[x] This incident marked the climax of Ilham’s story. In October 2013, an Uyghur family crashed their Jeep on the Jingshui Bridge of Tiananmen Square, which had been set on fire. The Chinese government labelled it a terrorist attack, which consequently resulted in Ilham increasing his visibility on foreign media of Britain, France, and the U.S., and led to ‘political policemen’ ramming into Ilham’s car on November 2^nd when he was on his way to the airport to pick his mother up. The authorities used violence and intimidation, issuing threats to his family’s life if he did not stop talking to the foreign media.[xi] With the pressure being dialled up on Ilham to cease his vocal concerns, he began to express worry about his safety to his personal friends and, somewhat prophetically, in a telephone statement to Mihray Abdilim, a Uyghur Service reporter for Radio Free Asia, that surveillance on him by state security agents increased and felt as if his voice would soon be silenced. Based on this concern, he asked for his last words to be recorded and published only after his detention.[xii]

Arrest, violations, and a show trial

In January 2014, around 20 police officers raided Ilham’s apartment in Beijing and beat him in front of his two young children. They detained him and permanently shut his website down. On the following day, Hong Lei, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry, explained that he had been ‘criminally detained’. The charges for his detention were disclosed in February when the Bureau of Public Security announced his formal arrest for ‘separatism’ – a vague account that allows for capital punishment – and for recruiting followers from his website.[xiii] His arrest triggered a wave of support for Ilham on the grounds that he had visibly argued against calls for XUAR independence and was in favour of the region remaining a part of China. The website Foreign Policy published their analysis on several of Ilham’s cached articles as part of his evidentiary record, and nowhere did they find any direct or indirect expression of separatism or independence.[xiv] Ilham was held at an undisclosed location for five months, barred from any contact with family or friends, and withheld from meeting his lawyer, Li Fangping, until June 26^th, when Li reported that Ilham was enervated at being shackled during the first 20 days of his detention and was refused Halal food for the first 10 days of March. These acts constitute violations of international law and arguably fall under the scope of acts of cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment. Many believe and fear that Ilham may have possibly endured torture.[xv]

Ilham only saw his family after eight months of his hasty and unfair trial. He was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment by September 23^rd, but denies all charges brought against him.[xvi] During the trial, the Prosecutors said that Ilham was portraying terrorists as heroes in his classes, internationalised the ‘Uyghur Question’, and made use of student testimonies that are assumed to have been obtained under duress. Some students faced forced strip searches after Ilham’s arrest, were detained, and some of whom remained missing for long periods, thus highlighting the prosecutors’ attempt to build an incriminating case alleging that Ilham was not the peaceful person who made himself out to be but was instead dangerous in the eyes of Chinese security and had to be silenced by being locked away.[xvii]

Behind Ilham’s struggle

But what is Ilham Tohti’s case really about? Uyghur-Han tensions have existed since the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), simmering into pockets of unrest bursting from time to time and triggering harsher policies against Uyghurs, especially after Xi Jinping took the helm of government in March 2013 and later unveiled the ‘grand strategic plan’ for the XUAR in December of the same year, with Ilham expressing concerns that the pressure on Uyghurs was about to increase.[xviii] The Chinese government has framed the issue as the ‘Uyghur Question’ or the ‘Xinjiang Problem’ which they have attempted to solve through a process of Sinification, one that has existed for many centuries in Chinese history and that entails the promotion of assimilation rather than integration. It later encouraged the Han Chinese to migrate to the region through policies that favoured the Han over the Uyghurs, and which resulted in an imbalance of socio-economic development. Ilham fell victim to China’s use of censorship technology and laws, where today, even a single post on the Twitter-like app of Sina Weibo can land its author in jail if it seemingly criticises the Chinese government.[xix] Ilham’s imprisonment proves that the Chinese government does not acknowledge the bridge between Uyghurs and the Han. In response to the supposed terror attack by the Uyghurs on Han Chinese in the Kunming train station in March 2014, the government declared a ‘People’s War on Terror’ and targeted scholars, activists, journalists, writers, and human rights lawyers throughout 2014.[xx] The underlying contradiction is that the internet serves as the primary tool to connect human beings across geographical, social, cultural, and linguistic borders and on which much of today’s commerce and communication takes place. Instead, the Chinese government’s ‘Great Firewall’ blocks the consumption of foreign content from entering China and uses the internet as a bludgeoning tool to censor and control digital content according to the approved narrative of China’s image, interests, and policies, criminalizing the spreading of ‘rumours’ online and establishing a pre-registration requirement for any online account that shares political opinions or statements.[xxi]

As the author of this piece, and along with my colleagues at Broken Chalk, I feel a close affinity to the tragic story of Ilham Tohti and many others like him because I, too, have a personal blog where I discuss my concerns about current global affairs. Exercising freedom of expression in the way that Ilham did through his ‘bridge blog’ is not a crime, nor should it unjustly label Ilham as a terrorism supporter, a drug peddler, a weapon seller, or an American agent. He truly sought to get Uyghurs and the Han to engage in conversations, overlook their differences, and become more united as common people. He chose to use peaceful and informed ways of educating others about Uyghurs opposing the narrative that paints them as terrorists, evil, and security risks to the ethos or foundation of Chinese society. Instead, he became a political martyr for ethnic Uyghurs in XUAR, receiving numerous awards for defending and seeking to expand human rights and freedoms,[xxii] and a beacon that continues to shed light upon the precarious situation that Uyghurs have faced in China’s internment camps since 2017, where numerous human rights violations take the form of beatings, torture, rape, killings, forced labour, and the sterilisation of Uyghur women.[xxiii]

Ultimately, Ilham is remembered as knowledgeable and courageous and as having a drive and determination to fight for ethnic Uyghurs, keeping his head up in the face of injustice and intimidation by Chinese authorities.

* To read and learn more about Ilham Tohti, there is a recent publication named ‘We Uyghurs Have No Say: An Imprisoned Writer Speaks’ (Verso Books). It is a series of collected essays and articles by Ilham prior to his detention. A paperback and eBook version are available at: https://bit.ly/3wiP6Mv

*Author’s note: throughout the article, his first name is used. In Uyghur culture, his last name, ‘Tohti’, refers to his father’s name, akin to saying that Ilham is the son of Tohti.

Written by Karl Baldacchino

Edited by Olga Ruiz Pilato

Sources;

[i] Kennedy, H. (2022) ‘We Uyghur’s Have No Say by Ilham Tohti Review – A People Ignored’. The Guardian. Available online from: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/mar/09/we-uyghurs-have-no-say-ilham-tohti-review-background-genocide-china [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[ii] Makinen, J. (2014) ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’. Los Angeles Times. Available online from: https://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-china-detention-professor-20140117-story.html#axzz2qljh0LfJ [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Wong, E. (2014) ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’. The New York Times. Available online from: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/18/world/asia/separatism-trial-of-ilham-tohti-uighur-scholar-begins-in-china.html?_r=0 [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Wertime, D. (2014) ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/media/internet-where-nobody-says-anything [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Amnesty International, ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti: Levenslang Gevangengezet’. Available online from: https://www.amnesty.nl/wat-we-doen/themas/sport-en-mensenrechten/ilham-tohti [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Denyer, S. & Rauhala, E. (2016) ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’. The Washington Post. Available online from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/to-beijings-dismay-jailed-uighur-scholar-wins-human-rights-award/2016/10/11/d07dff8c-8f85-11e6-81c3-fb2fde4e7164_story.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’. Available online from: https://pen.org/advocacy-case/ilham-tohti/ [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[iii] Woeser, T. (2009) ‘Interview with Uyghur Scholar Ilham Tohti’. YouTube. Available online from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQT0iN1nMk8 [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also Johnson, I. (2014) ‘”They Don’t Want Moderate Uighurs”’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/library/nyrb-china-archive/they-dont-want-moderate-uighurs [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[iv] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’; see also Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress. Available online from: https://humanrightscommission.house.gov/defending-freedom-project/prisoners-by-country/China/Ilham%20Tohti#:~:text=Biography%3A%20Ilham%20Tohti%20is%20a,regional%20autonomy%20laws%20in%20China. [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[v] ) ‘Interview With Uyghur Scholar Ilham Tohti’; see also PEN America (2014) ‘Ilham Tohti: 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award Winner’. YouTube. Available online from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm6YLWrnKPw [Accessed 19/03/2022].

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[viii] known as 7/5 due to it being a sensitive date in China

[ix] ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also Tohti, I. (2013) ‘The Wounds of the Uyghur People Have Not Healed’. Radio Free Asia. Available online from: https://www.rfa.org/english/commentaries/wounds-07052013134813.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’.

[x] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’.

[xi] Ibid.; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also Tohti, I. (2013) ‘Uyghur Scholar Tohti Speaks About His Concerns Before Detention’. Radio Free Asia. Available online from: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/interview-02072014182032.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’.

[xii] ‘Uyghur Scholar Tohti Speaks About His Concerns Before Detention’; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’.

[xiii] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’; see also ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[xiv] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’

[xv] Ibid.; see also ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’; see also Cao, Y. (2014) ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/china-2014-through-eyes-human-rights-advocate [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[xvi] ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti: Levenslang Gevangengezet’; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’.

[xvii] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’.

[xviii] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also European Foundation for South Asia Studies, ‘Language, Religion, and Surveillance: A Comparative Analysis of China’s Governance Models in Tibet and Xinjiang’. Available online from: https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/comparative-analysis-of-governance-models-in-tibet-and-xinjiang/ [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[xix] Ibid.; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[xx] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’.

[xxi] Ibid.

[xxii] Ilham Tohti is the recipient of PEN America’s 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, the 2016 Martin Ennals Award for human rights defenders who show deep commitment and face great personal risk, Liberal International’s 2017 Prize for Freedom, was nominated in 2019 and 2020 for the Nobel Peace Prize, and awarded in 2019 Freedom Award by Freedom House, the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

[xxiii] ‘We Uyghur’s Have No Say by Ilham Tohti Review – A People Ignored’; see also ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti.

*cover photo taken from: https://www.omct.org/fr/ressources/declarations/ilham-tohti-2016-martin-ennals-award-laureate-for-human-rights-defender

beatings forced labour Ilham Tohti killings People’s Republic of China Posted by Beyza Nur Dag rape torture Uyghur people Uyghur-Han tensions Xinjiang

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