BEIJING (AFP) – China hit out at the European Parliament on Friday (Oct 25) for awarding a key human rights prize to jailed Uighur intellectual Ilham Tohti, saying that he is a “terrorist”. Tohti – a former economics professor sentenced to life imprisonment in 2014 by Beijing – was announced as the winner of the Sakharov Prize on Thursday. But Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said at a press briefing on Friday that giving the…

Detained Since: January 15, 2014. Charges: Separatism. Sentence: Life in prison. Biography: Ilham Tohti is a Uyghur economics professor at Beijing’s Minzu University, where he was known for his research on Uyghur-Han relations as well as his activism for the implementation of regional autonomy laws in China. In 2006, Tohti founded UighurOnline, a Chinese-language website devoted to fostering understanding between Uighur and Han people, China’s dominant ethnic group. In 2008, authorities shut down his website citing the websites links to…

May 17, 2018 Press Release WASHINGTON, D.C. –  Congressmen Randy Hultgren (R-IL) and James P. McGovern (D-MA), Co-Chairs of the bipartisan Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, addressed the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights on the human rights situation in China’s Xinjiang province. The Co-Chairs’ remarks were broadcast via video at the start of the subcommittee’s “Exchange of Views on the Human Rights Situation in China, with a Special Focus on the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region” on May 15, 2018….

Rep. James R. Langevin(D-RI) Ilham TohtiChina Advocates Prisoners Rep. Rick Allen(R-GA) Alimujiang YimitiChina Rep. Gus Bilirakis(R-FL) PastorBakhrom KholmatovTajikstan Rep. Suzanne Bonamici(D-OR) Loujain al-HathloulSaudi ArabiaFariba KamalabadiIran (released)Diane RwigaraRwanda (released) Rep. Ted Budd(R-NC) Khalil MaatoukSyria Rep. Salud Carbajal(D-CA) Dr. Hatoon al-FassiSaudi Arabia Sen. Bill Cassidy(R-LA) Bui Thi Minh Hang Vietnam (released) Rep. Gerald Connolly(D-VA) Lobsang TseringChina Rep. David Cicilline(D-RI) Mahmoud Abou Zeid(Shawkan)EgyptFrancis Jang Xuan Dieu Vietnam (released) Rep. Ted Deutch(D-FL) Behrouz TavakkoliIran (released) Rep. Jeff Duncan(R-SC) Farshid FathiIran (released) Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee(D-TX) Ta Phong…

Feb 11, 2014 Press Release Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission co-chairmen Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Frank Wolf (R-VA) today expressed deep concern over the recent arrest and continued detention of economics professor and Uyghur rights advocate Ilham Tohti. Mr. Tohti was detained on January 15 and has not been heard from since. This is not the first time he’s been subject to harassment by the Chinese authorities. His arrest is indicative of a broader trend in…

Jul 3, 2014 Press Release Washington, D.C. – Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission co-chairmen James P. McGovern (D-MA) and Frank Wolf (R-VA) today recognize the fifth anniversary of the riots and violence in Xinjiang, China and express their continued concern about the deteriorating human rights situation in the People’s Republic of China, especially for the Uyghur Muslim community. On July 5, 2009, hundreds of the minority Muslim Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region of China rioted against…