Five years after his arrest, the lessons China’s Ilham Tohti tried to teach are left unheeded
Ten years ago, it would have been difficult to anticipate how Uyghurs in China would manage under new Party leadership. Five years ago, two dozen police stormed into Ilham Tohti’s apartment, snatching him up in a matter of minutes. Nothing has been the same since. The Uyghur economist, writer and professor, who founded the website “Uighurbiz.net” in 2006 to promote conciliation between Uyghurs and Han Chinese, was sentenced to life imprisonment eight months later for “separatism” after a two-day trial.
