The man known as \u2018China\u2019s Mandela\u2019 announced as the winner of the annual Martin Ennals award for human rights defenders<\/p>\n
Tom Phillips in Beijing
Tuesday 11 October 2016 05.27 EDT<\/p>\n
A moderate Uighur intellectual, who was jailed for life after opposing China\u2019s draconian policies in its violence-stricken west, has been named the winner of a prestigious award known as the \u201chuman rights Nobel\u201d in a move likely to infuriate Beijing.<\/p>\n
Ilham Tohti, who has been called China\u2019s Mandela<\/a>, was announced as the winner of the annual Martin Ennals award for human rights defenders on Tuesday.<\/p>\n The honour comes two years after the 46-year-old scholar was convicted of separatism and condemned to a life behind bars<\/a> by a court in Xinjiang, a vast region of western China where there have been repeated outbreaks of ethnic unrest and violence.<\/p>\n In a statement, the Martin Ennals foundation said Ilham Tohti had spent two decades trying \u201cto foster dialogue and understanding\u201d between China\u2019s Han majority and members of Xinjiang\u2019s largely Muslim Uighur ethnic minority, of which he is a member.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has rejected separatism and violence, and sought reconciliation based on a respect for Uighur culture, which has been subject to religious, cultural and political repression,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n Beijing has painted Ilham Tohti \u2013 whom western governments and rights groups universally view as a voice of moderation \u2013 as a dangerous separatist and\u201cscholar-turned-criminal\u201d<\/a> who preached \u201chatred and killing\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cHis case has nothing to do with human rights,\u201d Geng Shuang, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, told reporters on Tuesday, accusing the scholar of promoting and taking part in separatist activities.<\/p>\n But Dick Oosting, the chair of the Martin Ennals foundation, rejected that depiction and accused Beijing of silencing a peaceful advocate of Uighur rights.<\/p>\n \u201cThe real shame of this situation is that by eliminating the moderate voice of Ilham Tohti the Chinese government is in fact laying the groundwork for the very extremism it says it wants to prevent.\u201d<\/p>\n Teng Biao, an exiled human rights lawyer and friend of the jailed scholar, welcomed the award.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is definitely good news,\u201d he said. \u201cIt won\u2019t necessarily lead to an early release or have direct consequences but at least this kind of prize will make the international community more aware of Ilham Tohti. Every award is helpful to Chinese political prisoners and human rights defenders.\u201d <\/p>\n Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International\u2019s east Asia director, said: \u201cThe prize is a much needed recognition of the admirable work that Ilham Tohti has made to the cause of addressing ethnic tensions in Xinjiang, a topic that he knew well would one day lead the government to jail him.\u201d <\/p>\n Also shortlisted for the high-profile award \u2013 which is named after the British activist who was one of Amnesty International\u2019s first secretary generals \u2013 were Razan Zaitouneh<\/a>, a Syrian campaigner who went missing in Damascus in 2013, and a group of Ethiopian activists known as the Zone 9 bloggers<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ilham Tohti was born in Artush, a city in Xinjiang near China\u2019s borders with Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan, in October 1969.<\/p>\n Aged 16 he made the 2,700-mile journey to Beijing to continue his studies, eventually becoming an economics professor at the Minzu University of China<\/a>, a institution geared towards the country\u2019s ethnic minorities.<\/p>\n As an academic he began writing about the political and ethnic tensions that continued to blight Xinjiang in the mid-1990s and in 2006 launched a bilingual website called uyghurbiz.net to debate such issues.<\/p>\n Scrutiny of his work intensified following deadly 2009 ethnic riots<\/a> in Xinjiang\u2019s capital and again after Beijing declared a \u201cpeople\u2019s war on terror\u201d<\/a> in 2014 after a spate of attacks linked to the region.<\/p>\n Teng said his friend had attempted to address the causes of the bloodshed by serving as a \u201cbridge to connect Uighurs and Han Chinese\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was never a radical. He never resorted to violence or extreme ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n Even so, the lawyer said his friend\u2019s criticisms of Beijing\u2019s ethnic policies saw him \u201cseverely monitored by the secret police\u201d. In early 2014 the scholar was detained at his home in Beijing<\/a> and taken to Xinjiang, where western diplomats were barred from attending his two-day trial<\/a>, in September that year.<\/p>\n Teng said Ilham Tohti\u2019s \u201cvery inhumane\u201d life sentence \u2013 harsh, even by Chinese standards \u2013 showed how fearful the Communist party had become of his influence. \u201cThat\u2019s the reason the Chinese government … hated him so much.\u201d <\/p>\n Teng said the wife and children of the academic \u2013 whose financial assets were also confiscated following his trial \u2013 were now \u201cfacing difficult times\u201d. Relatives were only permitted to see the jailed scholar for 20 minutes every three months, with discussion of political issues and prison conditions forbidden. <\/p>\n Bequelin said: \u201cBy sentencing to life-imprisonment such a moderate and constructive critic who had never advocated either violence or separatism, Beijing betrayed its fear that discussions of any kind about the situation of Uighurs in China would inevitably bring attention to the extraordinarily repressive policies under which Uighurs live.<\/p>\n \u201cThese policies have produced disastrous results including increasing ethnic polarisation and a spike in violence in recent years \u2013 the very peril that Ilham Tohti was trying to address. It is time for Beijing to recognise that Ilham Tohti should never have been jailed in the first place and release him immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n The decision to honour Ilham Tohti is likely to spark an angry response from Beijing. The Swiss government and donors of the Martin Ennals foundationreportedly faced pressure from Chinese officials<\/a> after the activist Cao Shunli was shortlisted for the same award<\/a> just days before she died in custody in 2014.<\/p>\n