On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the detention of Ilham Tohti, a Uyghur economist and human rights activist sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of separatism in China, the European External Action Service (EEAS) on Monday 23 September reiterated its call for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr Tohti and other human rights defenders, lawyers and intellectuals arbitrarily detained in China.
Mr Tohti has worked for more than 20 years to promote dialogue and understanding between Uyghurs and Han Chinese, for which he was awarded the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2019.
His imprisonment is, according to the EEAS, “representative of the very worrying human rights situation in Xinjiang”, referring in particular to the 2022 Assessment Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, which concludes that serious human rights violations are committed in this region of China (see EUROPE 13473/15). (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)