Thursday, April 14, 2022, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. EDT

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Join the Uyghur Human Rights Project for a discussion of a new book, “We Uyghurs Have No Say,” a compilation of writings by imprisoned Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti.

Professor Ilham Tohti, an economist and prolific writer, founded the pioneering Chinese-language website, Uyghur Online. In 2014, Ilham was arrested; accused of advocating separatism and the overthrow of the Chinese government; subjected to a two-day trial; and sentenced to life in prison. He was awarded the European Parliament’s highest honor, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, in 2019.

Professor Ilham’s writings are no longer publicly available in China, following the deletion of his site. Yet his Chinese-language essays continue to circulate among intellectuals and dissidents in China and abroad. They have now been published in English by Verso Books in English under the title, “We Uyghurs Have No Say”. Join us discussing Ilham Tohti’s life, work and ideals.

Panelists:

Ms. Asiye Abdulahad is a researcher at the Netherlands Uyghur Human Rights Foundation. She is responsible for collecting and researching evidence related to the Uyghur genocide and providing the information to the media, think tanks and research institutions. Twitter: @AsiyeUyghur

Ms. Yaxue Cao is the founder of China Change and editor of ChinaChange.org, an English-language website that writes and translates information about Chinese citizens’ struggle for human rights, rule of law, and civil society. We work with dissidents, human rights lawyers, activists, and intellectuals to bring often-suppressed reports, analyses, and profiles to a global audience. Ms. Cao grew up in northern China during the Cultural Revolution and studied literature in the U.S. Twitter: @YaxueCao

Ms. Jewher Ilham is an author and an advocate for the Uyghur community and for her imprisoned father, Uyghur economist Ilham Tohti. Jewher has testified before Congress, published op-eds in The New York Times and the Guardian, and received numerous international awards on behalf of her father. Her books are  “Jewher Ilham: A Uyghur’s Fight to Free Her Father” (2015) and “Because I Have To: The Path to Survival” (2022). Jewher currently works at the Worker Rights Consortium and serves as a spokesperson for the Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region. She is currently producing a documentary film, Static and Noise, about Uyghurs. Twitter: @JewherIlham 

Dr. Teng Biao is an academic, lawyer and human rights activist. He was formerly a lecturer at the China University of Political Science and Law and has been a visiting fellow at Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, New York University, Hunter College, and Harvard’s Carr Center for Human Rights. Twitter: @TengBiao

Mr. Adiljan Abdukerim is the Director of the China Affairs Committee of World Uyghur Congress and Co-Founder and Secretary of the Dutch Uyghur Human Rights Foundation. He has a BA in economics from the University of Science and Technology in Beijing, a Masters in Economics from Bogazci University in Turkey, and an MBA from Nyenrode Business University in the Netherlands. Twitter: @DutchUyghurHR or @WUCChinaAffairs

Moderator:

Mr. Ilshat Hassan Kokbore is an activist, writer, and commentator for Radio Free Asia. He is UHRP’s Chinese translation and research consultant, vice chairman of the WUC Executive Committee, and former president of Uyghur American Association. Twitter: @HKokbore

Further reading:

We Uyghurs Have No Say by Ilham Tohti review (The Guardian), March 9, 2022