Date: May 25, 2023

Time: 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. EDT

Watch live on UHRP’s Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube pages

Join the Uyghur Human Rights Project for a discussion of the “Xinjiang Police Files” revelations and its effect on diaspora community over the last year. The Files reveal evidence of the Chinese government’s arbitrary detention of innocent Uyghurs, young and old.

Panelists:

Nyrola Elimä is a supply chain analyst and researcher at the Helena Kennedy Centre’s Forced Labour Lab at Sheffield Hallam University. As a consultant, she provides research on Chinese corporate structures, supply chain mapping, and ESG risk assessment to scholars, investment firms, and international media organizations.

Dr. Teng Biao is an academic lawyer, currently Hauser Human Rights Scholar at Hunter College, and visiting professor at the University of Chicago. Teng defended cases involving freedom of expression, religious freedom, the death penalty, Tibetans and Uyghurs. He co-founded two human rights NGOs in Beijing – the Open Constitution Initiative, and China Against the Death Penalty, in 2003 and 2010, respectively. Teng has received various international human rights awards including the Human Rights Prize of the French Republic (2007) and NED’s Democracy Award (2008).

Rahima Mahmut is an Uyghur singer, human rights activist, and award-winning translator of the poignant prison memoir The Land Drenched in Tears by Soyungul Chanisheff. She translated the testimonies of survivors during the Uyghur Tribunal, and is a prominent voice for Uyghurs in the UK. Rahima’s work includes producing music for award-winning Al Jazeera documentary ‘Living in the Unknown,’ working as a consultant and translator for the Bafta-winning ITV documentary ‘Undercover: Inside China’s Digital Gulag,’ and translator for the BBC documentary ‘China: A New World Order.’ She is currently UK Director of the World Uyghur Congress, Executive Director of Stop Uyghur Genocide, and an Advisor to the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China.

Jevlan Shirmemet was born in Qorghas county of Ghulja. He came to Turkey in 2011 to study; his mother came to Turkey to see him in 2013; because of her travel to Turkey for her son, she was arrested and sentenced for 5 years jail in 2018 with the charge that ‘she travelled to a sensitive country’ by the Chinese authorities. This injustice act of China forced Jevlan to study law and made him to become an activist for his mother’s release. Jevlan completed his law degree from Istanbul Commerce University and now he is interning at Bakirkoy Courthouse in Istanbul, Turkey.

Moderator:

Tashken Davlet joined the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) as Outreach Specialist. His past work experience mostly covers the fields of media and nonprofit organizations, with skills in journalism, program producing, multimedia editing, event planning, and translation. He is proficient in Mandarin and also speaks Taiwanese Hokkien. He has a Bachelor’s degree from National Tsing Hua University (國立清華大學), majoring in Sociology and minoring in Philosophy.