{"id":691,"date":"2021-06-02T07:11:23","date_gmt":"2021-06-02T04:11:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/?p=691"},"modified":"2021-06-02T07:11:24","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T04:11:24","slug":"world-uyghur-congress-founders-brother-handed-life-sentence-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/world-uyghur-congress-founders-brother-handed-life-sentence-in-china\/","title":{"rendered":"WORLD UYGHUR CONGRESS FOUNDER\u2019S BROTHER HANDED LIFE SENTENCE IN CHINA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The New Arab<\/a>. 01 June 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Below is an article published by The New Arab<\/a>. Photo: OZAN KOSE\/AFP\/Getty-file photo.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The co-founder of a global Uighur movement\u2019s brother has been handed life in a Chinese prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though the jail term has arisen lately, 48-year-old Hushtar Isa was interned in 2017 in one of China\u2019s widely criticised\u00a0camps,\u00a0The Times<\/em>\u00a0reported on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

His detainment in 2017 followed an allegation of \u201cinciting terrorism\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

World Uyghur Congress (WUC) co-founder and Hushtar\u2019s sibling, Dolkun Isa, said: \u201cIt is very clear that China is trying to push Uighur exiles to silence, because my parents and siblings have never engaged in politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSilencing and revenge is their only aim, because they have been unhappy from the beginning with my activism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dolkun began residing abroad in 1994, launching WUC in Munich 10 years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China alleges that the organisation led race riots in 2009 in the Uighur home province of Xinjiang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amid what they claim are counter-terror efforts, the authorities have now held perhaps one million members of the Uighur and other Xinjiang Muslim communities, in a move rebuked by rights organisations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dolkun\u2019s initial experience of detention came in 1988 following his coordination of a protest while a student, according to The Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though in 1998, Hushtar was arrested, he remained in Xinjiang province where he cared for the siblings\u2019 aging father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2017, their mother asked Dolkun to no longer call, seemingly amid pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following year, she lost her life while in internment. Dolkun was informed of this by a friend living in Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His dad met the same fate last year, which he learned of in the Chinese Community Party\u2019s Global Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was shocked, trying to call all my relatives but none of their phones are connecting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI still have no idea where or when my father died.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said his sister made a forced televised statement claiming their dad passed away in hospital and praised the authorities\u2019 conduct towards the Uighur people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dolkun is not the first activist to have his relatives given prison terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, last December, the sister of Campaign for Uighurs executive director Rushan Abbas, was given 20 years over terror allegations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dolkun observed: \u201c[The Chinese authorities\u2019] intention was assimilation, then it turned to genocide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I started campaigning very few people knew about the Uighurs. Now China is under international pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He considers that this pressure is leading to increased targeting of those forced abroad\u2019s relatives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New Arab. 01 June 2021 Below is an article published by The New Arab. Photo: OZAN KOSE\/AFP\/Getty-file photo. The co-founder of a global Uighur movement\u2019s brother has been handed life in a Chinese prison. Though the jail term has arisen lately, 48-year-old Hushtar Isa was interned<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":692,"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691\/revisions\/692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}