MCLC: secret trial in Tohti case

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: pjmooney <pjmooney at me.com>
Subject: secret trial in Tohti case
***********************************************************

China’s accusations against Ilham Tohti are absurd and an indication that
things will only continue to get worse in Xinjiang. This is an outrage.
Paul

PEN OFFICIAL STATEMENT
For Immediate Release
June 16, 2014
PEN Alarmed by Reports of Secret Trial and Conviction in Tohti Case
Literary and Human Rights Group Maintains Uyghur Writer’s Innocence

PEN American Center is deeply troubled by reports that jailed Uyghur
scholar and 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award winner Ilham
Tohti has been sentenced to a “heavy” jail term in a secret trial in
China. If corroborated, this action will mar an already declining human
rights record in China, where free expression is ostensibly protected
under Article 35 of the Chinese Constitution.

On June 16, The Guardian reported that Tohti’s lawyer, Li Fangping, had
received reports from two sources indicating that his client had been
tried and convicted in secret overnight. PEN is working with sources in
both the U.S. and China to seek confirmation of the reports and will
continue to provide updates on his case as they become available. We
remain gravely concerned for Tohti’s health and safety.

A prominent writer and member of Uyghur PEN, Tohti was arrested at his
apartment in Beijing on January 15, 2014 after speaking out about human
rights violations against the Uyghurs on his website, Uyghur Online.  He
was held in secret for a month before his family received notification
that Tohti is imprisoned in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region,
thousands of miles from his home, on spurious charges of separatism. He
has since been denied access to his lawyer, in violation of Chinese law,
and remains detained without contact to the outside world.

In a poignant statement prepared last July for release in the event of his
arrest, Tohti predicted his own fate: “I have realized that I don’t have
too many good days ahead of me and I have a feeling that the Chinese
government may not have the best intentions in dealing with my
situation... I am almost confident that the Chinese government is trying
to get rid of me this time.”

More than 500 writers joined PEN’s May 2014 petition demanding Tohti’s
immediate release, which provoked a rare response from Beijing. We
continue to stand in solidarity with Ilham Tohti and his family,
maintaining his innocence and right to advocate peacefully for equality in
China.

 
PEN American Center
New York, NY 10012
www.pen.org <http://www.pen.org/>
June 16, 2014
 

Contact:
Sarah Hoffman, Freedom to Write Coordinator, sarah at pen.org, (t)
212.334.1660 x 111
Sarah Edkins, Communications Manager, sedkins at pen.org, (t) 212.334.1660 x
116, (m) 617.947.6512
###
Founded in 1922, PEN American Center is an association of 3,500 American
writers working to break down barriers to free expression worldwide.