The President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, announced on 24 October in Strasbourg that the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought had been awarded this year to the Uighur intellectual Ilham Tohti, sentenced to life imprisonment in China for "separatism".
"I am pleased to announce that the European Parliament has chosen Ilham Tohti as the winner of the 2019 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. Mr Tohti has devoted his life to advocating for the rights of the Uighur minority in...