Human rights activists demand release of imprisoned Uighur professor

On Friday, on occasion of the 3rd German-Chinese government consultations in Berlin, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) and the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) demonstrated in front of the Federal Chancellery, calling for a release of the Uyghur professor Ilham Tohti, who was recently sentenced to life imprisonment in China. The organizations called on German chancellor Merkel to mention Tohti's case during the consultations. With a life-size figure of Chancellor Merkel as a puppet of the Chinese President Xi Jinping, the human rights organizations warned that Germany should not kowtow to China's Communist regime.

"China's leadership is not interested in human rights for the Uyghurs, Tibetans, Mongols and the Chinese majority of the population – but only in its retention of power," criticized Ulrich Delius, the STP's Asia-consultant. "As long as the Chinese authorities continues to suppress any criticism against their politics, human rights issues should not be hushed up in the German-Chinese government consultations."

In September 2014, the economics professor Ilham Tohti was sentenced to life imprisonment for alleged "separatism" and for criticizing China's human rights violations against the Uyghur population. "The unjust ruling against Ilham Tohti will lead to new tensions between the Uyghurs and the Chinese" fears Dolkun Isa, chairman of the WUC. "We hope that the chancellor will be able to prevent a further bloodshed between the population groups." Tohti, who is accused of "separatism", had always been especially moderate in his attempts to further a dialogue between the Uyghurs and the Chinese.

"Tohtis fate is not an isolated case," Delius said. "Hundreds of Uyghurs are detained for taking part in public protests or because of their commitment for civil rights. If people are excluded and criminalized solely because of their ethnic origin, this will lead to even more hopelessness, tensions and violence. "If Tohti were to be set free, this could be a sign that China's leadership in Beijing is really interested in conciliation with the Muslim Uyghurs.

Ulrich Delius, head of STP's Asia department, is available for further questions: +49 551 49906 27 or asien@gfbv.de.