Amnesty International activists gathered outside the Chinese embassy in Brussels on Friday, calling for the "immediate and unconditional" release of Uyghur professor Ilham Tohti, Amnesty Belgium reported.
Ilham Tohti, an economics professor at Minzu University in Beijing, spent 20 years advocating dialogue between Uyghurs and the Han majority in China. Despite his commitment to non-violence and peaceful reconciliation, Tohti was sentenced to life imprisonment for "separatism" in 2014.
Marking his 55th birthday on Friday, protesters held 55 black balloons outside the Chinese embassy in Brussels. They displayed a banner reading, "Free Ilham Tohti – China must end the decade of injustice." A petition signed by 7,955 people calling for Tohti's release was also delivered to the embassy.
"For ten years now, Ilham Tohti has languished in prison simply for peacefully highlighting the systemic discrimination faced by the Uyghur population in Xinjiang," said China coordinator for Amnesty International's French-speaking Belgian section, Philippe Givron.
"His case symbolises the repression of Muslim minorities. Following the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights' report on Xinjiang from August 2022, we urge the international community to take concrete action and increase pressure on Beijing to end discrimination and arbitrary detentions in Xinjiang," Givron added.
