The European Union awarded on Thursday economist Ilham Tohti the Sakharov Prize, its top human rights award, for his dedicated work in defending China's ethnic Uyghur Muslim minority and called on Beijing to release him from jail
BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th October, 2019) The European Union awarded on Thursday economist Ilham Tohti the Sakharov Prize, its top human rights award, for his dedicated work in defending China's ethnic Uyghur Muslim minority and called on Beijing to release him from jail.Tohti, a representative of the Uyghur ethnic group and a critic of China's policies toward his minority, was jailed for life in 2014 after he was found guilty of inciting violence through academic activities. China dismissed international criticism of his prison sentence, saying that the scholar was "splitting the nation."
"Very pleased to announce that Ilham Tohti is the 2019 #SakharovPrize winner. He has dedicated his life to advocating for the rights of China's Uyghur minority, but was sentenced to life in prison in 2014. We demand his immediate release," European Parliament President David Sassoli Tweeted.
The activist will be awarded the prize in December in absentia from Strasbourg.
Tohti was an economics professor at Beijing's Minzu University, where he was known for his research on relations between the Uyghurs and the Hans, China's dominant ethnic group. In 2006, Tohti founded UighurOnline, a Chinese-language website devoted to fostering understanding between the two groups. However, the site was shut down in 2008, with the authorities claiming it provided links to Uyghur extremists abroad.
The economist was jailed in 2009 after ethnic riots broke out in China's northwestern city of Urumqi, which is the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. However, he was released several months later, following international pressure and condemnation.
In an August 2018 report, UN experts on the elimination of racial discrimination said that up to 1 million ethnic Uyghurs could be held in so-called re-education camps. Beijing has, however, denied the existence of such camps on numerous occasions, saying that the claims have never been substantiated and arguing that the facilities are, in fact, vocational colleges set up as part of counterterrorism efforts in the region.
