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PEN America says Sakharov Prize is statement that world is not ignoring what’s happening to China’s Uyghur minority FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 24, 2019 (New York, NY) – The European Union awarded its top human rights award, the Sakharov Prize, to Ilham Tohti, a staunch defender of Uyghur rights unjustly sentenced to life in prison in 2014. PEN America honored Tohti with its 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award and has led global efforts for…

The Council of Europe has awarded its prestigious annual human rights award to imprisoned Uighur activist Ilham Tohti. It has also jointly honored the Balkan-based Youth Initiative for Human Rights.      The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Monday jointly awarded its human rights prize to Chinese Uighur public intellectual Ilham Tohti and the Balkan-based Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR). “In honoring them, we also send a message of hope to the millions of…

The economics professor was sentenced to life in prison by Chinese court in 2014 on separatism charges. 24 Oct 2019 Economist Ilham Tohti, a defender of China’s Uighur community who is serving a life sentence on separatism charges, has been awarded the European Union’s top human rights award. In a statement on Thursday announcing the 2019 Sakharov Prize, the European Parliament described Tohti as a “voice of moderation and reconciliation” who campaigned “tirelessly” to encourage “dialogue and understanding” between Uighurs and other Chinese people, as…

The imprisoned Uighur economist represents an entire people under attack by China. BY JAMES PALMER  | OCTOBER 24, 2019, 1:53 PM The Uighur economist Ilham Tohti, currently held in a Chinese prison, has just been awarded the 2019 Sakharov Prize from the European Parliament. But who is he, and what does it mean? Foreign Policy has you covered. What’s the Sakharov Prize? Officially the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, the prestigious human rights award was founded in 1988 in…

An academic jailed for separatism in China has been awarded the European Parliament’s top human rights prize. Ilham Tohti, who is from the Uighur minority, has been a fierce critic of China’s treatment of the Uighur people. He was jailed for life in 2014. More than a million Uighurs and other ethnic minorities are reported to have been held in camps in China’s restive Xinjiang region. Mr Tohti, seen by many as a moderate voice,…