Members of the European Parliament gathered in Brussels to mark the 10th anniversary of Ilham Tohti’s imprisonment and called for his release.
More than 20 Members of the European Parliament gathered in front of the European Parliament in Brussels on September 24, 2024, to condemn the 10th anniversary of the unjust life imprisonment of Uyghur scholar and activist Ilham Tohti by China.
The event, organized jointly by MEPs Raphael Glucksmann, Engin Eroglu and Miriam M. Lexmann, called China to immediately and unconditionally release Ilham Tohti. They also called the world community to take practical steps to ensure that the Uyghur academic is freed as soon as possible.
Enver Can, the founding chairman of the Ilham Tohti Initiative, who came to Brussels from Munich upon official invitation, told Uyghur News that he met the members who were re-elected to the European Parliament during this event, thanked them for their support for Ilham Tohti, and consulted with the MEPs about what can be done for Ilham Tohti and the Uyghur people in the future.
Enver Can also emphasized that the international efforts for the release of Ilham Tohti should be increased and that the support of the members of the European Parliament is of great importance in this regard. Stating that more diplomatic initiatives should be taken for Tohti’s freedom, Can called them to take a more active stance on this issue, and try to bring the Uyghur scholar to a EU member country for medical treatment, as the international concern has been growing about the health of Ilham Tohti.
WHO IS İLHAM TOHTI
Ilham Tohti is a researcher and academic who dared to raise his voice against the violations of the rights of Uyghurs in China and worked for the restoration of the rights of Uyghurs through legal means and dialogue. However, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2014 on the trumped-up charge of “separatism”, despite his efforts to solve the problems faced by Uyghurs through completely legal means.
Ilham Tohti has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize every year since 2018 by scholars and members of parliaments from many countries, including the European Union, the United States and Turkey, and has been selected at least twice as one of the final five finalists out of more than 300 others.
Since his imprisonment, Ilham Tohti has received at least 10 international awards, including the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for defenders of human rights and freedom of expression, which he won in 2019, and the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Award from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
Enver Can, emphasizes that his next goal is the Nobel Peace Prize and says that “the world’s most prestigious award for Ilham Tohti, who sacrificed himself for the freedom and rights of his people, will once again underline the recognition of his just struggle for the rights of the Uyghur people by the world community”.
from: UygurNews