{"id":42506,"date":"2014-09-27T16:30:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-27T16:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/127.0.0.1:10081\/?p=42506 "},"modified":"2014-09-27T16:30:00","modified_gmt":"2014-09-27T16:30:00","slug":"42506-revision-v1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/?p=42506","title":{"rendered":"Ilham Tohti\u2019s Statement after Receiving a Life Sentence for Allegedly \u201cSeparatist\u201d Crimes"},"content":{"rendered":"
published: September 25, 2014<\/div>
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On Wednesday, September 24, 2014, lawyer Li Fangping met with Ilham in Urumqi Detention Center, Xinjiang. Ilham signed a 15-page appeal to be submitted by his lawyers. Meanwhile Li Fangping recorded Ilham’s statement:<\/div>
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ILHAM TOHTI, TEACHING ECONOMICS AT MINZHU UNIVERSITY IN BEIJING.<\/div>
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My outcries are for our people and, even more, for the future of China.<\/div>
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Before entering prison, I kept worrying I wouldn’t be able to deal with the harshness inside. I worried I would betray my conscience, career, friends and family. I made it!<\/div>
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The upcoming life in prison is not something I’ve experienced, but it will nonetheless become our life and my own experience. I don’t know how long my life can go on. I have courage; I will not be fragile. If you hear news that I mutilated or killed myself, you can be certain it is made-up.<\/div>
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After seeing the judgment against me, contrary to what people may think, I now think I have a more important duty to bear.<\/div>
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Even though I have departed, I still live in anticipation of the sun and the future. I am convinced that China will become better, and that the constitutional rights of the Uighur people will, one day, be honored.<\/div>
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Peace is a heavenly gift to the Uighur and Han people. Only peace and good will can create a common interest.<\/div>
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I wear my shackles twenty-four hours a day, and was only allowed physical exercise for three hours out of the last eight months. My cell mates are eight sentenced Han prisoners. These are fairly harsh conditions. However, I count myself fortunate when I look at what has happened to my students and other Uighurs accused of separatist crimes. I had my own Han lawyer whom I appointed to defend me, and my family was allowed to attend my trial. I was able to say what I wanted to say. I hope that, through my case, rule of law in Xinjiang can improve, even if it is only a baby step.<\/div>
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After yesterday’s sentencing, I slept better than I ever did in the eight months (of my detention). I never realized I had this in me. The only thing is don’t tell my old mother what happened. Tell my family to tell her that it’s only a five-year sentence. Last night, in the cell next door Parhat Halmurat (student of Ilham’s and an editor of Uighurbiz website) slammed himself against the door and cried out loud. I heard the sound of shackles, nonstop, as they were taken to interrogations. Maybe my students have been sentenced too.<\/div>
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(To his wife): My love, for the sake of our children, please be strong and don’t cry! In a future not too far away, we will be in each other’s arms once more. Take care of yourself! Love, Ilham.<\/div>
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———–<\/div>
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Related:<\/div>
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Ilham Tohti Says<\/div>
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My Ideals and the Career Path I Have Chosen, autobiography by Ilham Tohti<\/div>
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2009 Interview with Uyghur Scholar Ilham Tohti, with Chinese and English subtitles<\/div>
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Ilham Tohti should get the Nobel peace prize, not life in prison, Teng Biao’s op-ed in the Guardian<\/div>
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Ilham or Tohti? Ilham, not Tohti<\/div>
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(Translated by Louisa Chiang)<\/div>
 <\/div>Chinese original<\/a>
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Continue reading the original article<\/a>.<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<div><div>The upcoming life in prison is not something I&#8217;ve experienced, but it will nonetheless become our life and my own experience. I don&#8217;t know how long my life can go on. I have courage; I will not be fragile. If you hear news that I mutilated or killed myself, you can be certain it is made-up.<\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ChinaHumanRights","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42506\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}