2014-12-11
Abduweli Ayup and his daughter in a file photo.
Photo courtesy of Ayup’s family
Chinese authorities have freed a U.S.-educated Uyghur linguist who sought to set up schools to promote the ethnic minority language in the Xinjiang region after more than a year in prison, according to a close relative.
Abduweli Ayup was ordered jailed 18 months and fined 80,000 yuan (U.S. $13,000) for “illegal fundraising” in August by the Tengritagh (in Chinese, Tianshan) district court in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi after being detained for a year.
He was released on Nov. 27 after his partners in an education venture, Muhemmet Sidik and Dilyar Obul, who were convicted in the same trial, appealed their verdict, the relative said, speaking to RFA’s Uyghur Service on condition of anonymity.
State media did not report the release of Ayup, who had not appealed his sentence.
Uyghurs in exile have suggested that the charges against Ayup and his partners were politically motivated, after the linguist’s essays and lectures on maintaining the Uyghur language in schools drew widespread support in China’s Uyghur community.
“After Abduweli’s trial, our family assumed that he would be released in February 2015, based on the decision of the court [which included his time already spent in detention], but the authorities freed him three months before the end of his jail term,” he said.
The conviction of Ayup, who has a Master’s Degree in Linguistics from the University of Kansas, had received international attention.
A group of supporters in the United States launched a petition on MoveOn.org to publicize his case, receiving hundreds of backers from across the globe. They also set up a Facebook page “Justice for Uyghur Linguist Abduweli Ayup” to highlight his plight.
The petition called on the ruling Chinese Communist Party to protect the rights of ethnic minorities, among other requests.
The mostly Muslim Uyghurs say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness.
Ishat Hesen, vice president of the Uyghur American Association, said he found it strange that Ayup had been convicted of illegal fundraising instead of crimes against the state or separatism.
But he said the authorities were likely eager to avoid drawing international attention to his case in the same way that the September sentencing of Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti to life in prison for “separatism” had invited criticism from rights groups and Western governments.
“Ilham Tohti’s case was one of the big lessons for the Chinese government,” Hesen said.
