3.02.2014

Freedom for Professor Ilham Tohti!

Freedom for Professor Ilham Tohti!

The Radical Party fully endorses the request of the World Uighur Congress to immediately release Professor Tohti, and urges Chinese authorities to finally engage in a dialog with the Uighur, Tibetan,
Mongol communities to implement the Chinese Constitution that grants ample autonomy for ethnic groups living in the People's Republic.

On 15th January last, economics Professor Ilham Tohti, an Uighur scholar at Minzu University ,has been arrested in Beijing on the charges of "secession". Mr. Tohti was the founder of the website "Uyghur Online" primarily dedicated to Uyghur legal rights' problems in the hope that the international community could learn more about the current Uyghur situation such as the forced demolition, forced kidnapping, or Uyghur survival crisis due to the policy of internal relocation of people towards the western regions of China.

According to the Rexit Dilshat, spokesperson for the World Uyghur Congress and member of the Nonviolent Radical Party, Mr. Tohti's work concerned Uighur's legal rights including religion, culture, and freedom of expression. "Mr. Tohti's case is not a single case" said Mr. Dilshat "but a systematic policy by the Chinese authorities to suppress Uighurs' freedom of expression [...] the allegation of
secession is just a political excuse to suppress speech and Internet freedom. We call on the international community to monitor China and free the Uighur scholar [...] China's accusations of separatism are merely an excuse for suppression of those with different political opinions."

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