Gender: Male
Perpetrator: China
Ethnic Group: Uyghur
Religion or Belief: Muslim – Unspecified/Other
Reports of Torture: No
Reports of Medical Neglect: No
Sentence: Life Imprisonment
Date of Detainment: January/15/2014
Date of Sentencing: September//2014
Current Status: Not Released
Religious Leader: No
Most Recent Type of Abuse: Imprisonment
Reason for Persecution: Ethnoreligious Identity Online Activity
Nature of Charges: Separatism
Ilham Tohti
Extra Bio Info:
Ilham Tohti is imprisoned for his ethnoreligious identity and activism.
On January 15, 2014, authorities arrested Tohti, an economics professor, after police raided his home and seized his laptop and books.
In September 2014, Tohti was found guilty of "separatism" and sentenced to life in prison. Prosecutors accused him of promoting independence for Xinjiang on his his Chinese-language website, Uighur Online, which he founded to to cultivate Uyghur-Han understanding. Additionally, all of Tohti's assets were frozen.
Since 2017, Tohti has been held incommunicado.
On July 17, 2019, President Donald Trump met with Tohti's daughter, Jewher Tohti, at the White House.
Tohti has been previously targeted by the state. In 2009, he was forcibly disappeared after authorities accused his website of helping to incite the July 2009 Urumqi Riots. He was subsequently released.
Rep. James R. Langevin (D-RI, Ret.) advocated for Tohti as part of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission's Defending Freedoms Project.
Publicly Available Information:
-
Photo attributed to Voice of America, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
-
"Ilham Tohti" Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission
-
"Ilham Tohti" PEN America
-
USCIRF Commissioner Nury Turkel, Tweet, September 31, 2021
-
USCIRF Commissioner Nury Turkel, Tweet, January 14, 2021
-
USCIRF Commissioner Nury Turkel, Tweet, September 23, 2020
-
USCIRF, Tweet, December 20, 2019
-
"Ilham Tohti: Uighur activist's daughter fears for his life" British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
-
USCIRF, Tweet, December 1, 2017
-
"Trump Meets Survivors of Religious Persecution, Jailed Uyghur Professor Ilham Tohti’s Daughter" Radio Free Asia (RFA)
-
USCIRF Press Release September 2015
-
USCIRF Press Release September 2014
-
"China jails prominent Uighur academic Ilham Tohti for life" British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
Additional Name(s): 鹿克芹
Gender: Female
Perpetrator: China
Religion or Belief: Falun Gong
Reports of Torture: No
Reports of Medical Neglect: No
Sentence: 3 Years, 6 Months' Imprisonment
Date of Sentencing: June/13/2019
Current Status: Unknown
Religious Leader: No
Most Recent Type of Abuse: Detainment
Reason for Persecution: Religious Activity
Nature of Charges: Unknown
Lu Keqin
Extra Bio Info:
Lu Keqin was detained for her religious activity.
On June 4, 2018, police arrested Lu reportedly in relation to her practice of Falun Gong.
On June 7, 2018, Lu was released.
On June 13, 2019, the Feicheng Municipal People’s Court sentenced Lu to three years and six months in prison.
Publicly Available Information:
- "Lu Keqin" Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC)
Additional Name(s): 曾海平
Gender: Male
Perpetrator: China
Religion or Belief: Falun Gong
Reports of Torture: No
Reports of Medical Neglect: No
Sentence: 5 Years' Imprisonment
Date of Detainment: June/21/2018
Date of Sentencing: March/22/2019
Current Status: Unknown
Religious Leader: No
Most Recent Type of Abuse: Imprisonment
Reason for Persecution: Religious Activity
Nature of Charges: Unknown
Zeng Haiping
Extra Bio Info:
Zeng Haiping was imprisoned for his religious activity.
On June 21, 2018, police in Meizhou municipality, Guangdong province arrested Zeng in relation to his practice of Falun Gong.
On March 22, 2019, the Meixian District People’s Court sentenced Zeng to five years in prison.
Zeng's sentence should have ended in June 2023.
Publicly Available Information:
- "Zeng Haiping" Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC)