9.25.2014

China: Justice for Professor Ilham Tohti Uyghur sentenced to life imprisonment for "separatism." Italy should follow the matter on behalf of the EU.

The Radical Party endorses and relaunches the appeal of the World Uighur Congress led by Kadeer Rebya - a fellow Radical Party member for years - directed at the international community to put pressure on China to immediately free Uyghur Professor Ilham Tohti.
Ilham Tohti was arrested earlier this year on charges of spreading ideas in favor of secession in the Chinese region of Xinjiang, an area which the Uighurs call East Turkestan located on the border with Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Mr. Tohti, who taught at the University of Minzu, had founded "Uyghur Online," a blog in which he invited readers to a public and transparent debate aimed at promoting a dialogue between the Uighurs and Han Chinese. Professor Tohti was also well known for being one of the leading experts of Uyghur culture and traditions as well as for his support for nonviolence.

The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the United Nations, who had studied the case of Tohti at the end of April, reported that "the deprivation of liberty of the Uighur professor was completely arbitrary and contrary to Articles 9, 10, 11, 18 , 19, 20 and 21 of the universal Declaration on Human Rights "and called on the Chinese Government to take" all necessary measures to put an immediate remedy to the situation" of lawlessness and "release without delay the professor offering a monetary compensation for the damages caused to him from detention". The Chinese authorities have also confiscated the assets owned by Tohti and its family creating serious economic hardships to all his relatives.

In the spring of 2014, China has participated in the Universal Periodic Review on human rights at the UN Council in Geneva accepting more than 80% of the recommendations adopted by the United Nations: the case of Professor Tohti is the litmus test on commitments formally taken by Beijing in front of the international community in the field of human rights. The Radical Party hopes that Italy, rotating president of the European Union, will firmly raise the issue in all multilateral and bilateral meetings it will have with China in order to obtain Beijing's full compliance with the international obligations, and therefore the release of Ilham Tohti.

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