Additional Name(s): يالقۇن روزى, 亚力坤·肉孜, 牙里坤·肉孜

Gender: Male

Perpetrator: China

Ethnic Group: Uyghur

Religion or Belief: Muslim – Unspecified/Other

Reports of Torture: No

Reports of Medical Neglect: No

Sentence: 15 Years' Imprisonment

Date of Sentencing: January//2018

Current Status: Not Released

Religious Leader: No

Most Recent Type of Abuse: Imprisonment

Reason for Persecution: Ethnoreligious Identity

Nature of Charges: Subversion

Yalqun Rozi

Extra Bio Info:

Yalqun Rozi is imprisoned for his ethnoreligious identity. 

In late 2016, authorities in Urumqi municipality, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), detained Rozi, a literary critic, writer, and former editor of the official Xinjiang Education Press, reportedly in relation to his work starting in 2001 as part of an official XUAR committee revising Uyghur-language textbooks for use in XUAR schools. Rozi's detention came amid mass detentions of largely Muslim ethnic minorities in XUAR for reasons including expression of ethnic or cultural identity.

In January 2018, Rozi was reportedly sentenced to 15 years in prison for “inciting subversion of state power.”

Publicly Available Information:

Additional Name(s): Bizainafu Abudourexiti, Buzainafu Abudourexiti, بۈزەينەپ ئابدۇرەشىت, 布再娜甫·阿布都热西提

Gender: Female

Current Location: Xinjiang Women's Prison

Perpetrator: China

Ethnic Group: Uyghur

Religion or Belief: Muslim – Unspecified/Other

Reports of Torture: No

Reports of Medical Neglect: No

Sentence: 7 Years' Imprisonment

Date of Detainment: March/29/2017

Date of Sentencing: June/5/2017

Current Status: Not Released

Religious Leader: No

Most Recent Type of Abuse: Imprisonment

Reason for Persecution: Ethnoreligious Identity Religious Instruction & Teaching Travel Abroad

Nature of Charges: Illegal Assembly

Buzeynep Abdureshit

Extra Bio Info:

Buzeynep Abdureshit is imprisoned for her study abroad and ethnoreligious identity.

On March 29, 2017, public security officials in Urumqi municipality, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), detained possibly in relation to her studying Islam in Egypt. Her detention came amid a government campaign in XUAR of arbitrary mass internment of Uyghurs and others for reasons including ethnic identity and travel abroad, particularly to Muslim-majority countries such as Egypt.

On June 5, 2017, Abdureshit was sentenced to seven years in prison reportedly for "gathering a crowd to disturb social order."

Abdureshit is married and was reportedly pregnant when initially detained.

Publicly Available Information:

Additional Name(s): ھەبىبۇللا توختى, 海尔布尔.土赫提

Gender: Male

Perpetrator: China

Ethnic Group: Uyghur

Religion or Belief: Muslim – Unspecified/Other

Reports of Torture: No

Reports of Medical Neglect: No

Sentence: 10 Years' Imprisonment

Date of Detainment: March//2017

Date of Sentencing: May//2017

Current Status: Not Released

Religious Leader: No

Most Recent Type of Abuse: Imprisonment

Reason for Persecution: Ethnoreligious Identity Religious Scholarship Travel Abroad

Nature of Charges: Unknown

Hebibulla Tohti

Extra Bio Info:

Hebibulla Tohti is imprisoned for his religious scholarship and ethnoreligious identity.

In March 2017, security personnel in Urumqi municipality, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), detained Tohit, a well-known religious scholar. Tohit's detention came amid mass detentions of largely Muslim ethnic minorities in XUAR in 2017 and 2018.

In May 2017, a XUAR court sentenced Tohti to 10 years in prison on unspecified charges related to "illegal religious activity."

Tohti had been previously detained in relation to his travel abroad, where he allegedly taught Uyghur students in Egypt about religion and attended a religious conference in Saudi Arabia.

Publicly Available Information:
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