Tohti Muzart, was sentenced for 14 years last Summer in Urumchi.
From: TudiH@aol.com
Somebody sent the following information in Uyghur. I
translated it into English./ Turdi
Dec. 9, 2000
/ I am not sure if you heard about it yet, Tohti Muzart, who got his Ph.D in
history in Japan was sentenced for 14 years last Summer in Urumchi. Tohti
Muzart graduated from the history department of Central Institute of
Nationalities in 1984 and was assigned to work for China National Standing
Committee. He studied at Tokyo University from 1990-1995 for his Ph.D degree.
He was majored in Uyghur history and ethnic relationships. He published
several papers on Uyghur history in Japan. He also published a book in
Beijing. Tohti is from the Bay county of Aksu prefecture. He adopted
the name of the biggest river “Muzart” in Bay county as his pen
name. Tohti is a talented historian. He is also a specialist
on social issues related to other minorities in our
homeland. He had close relationship with former Xinjiang governors
Seyfudin Eziz and Ismail Emet during the years he was at the China
National Standing Committee. He was also involved in
translation effort of Seyfudin Eziz’s works. Tohti was
arrested soon after he came to Urumchi in 1999 to collect material for his
research. He had been reportedly watched by security police
for quite some time. He was reportedly arrested with some
alleged sensitive material. There are many different sayings about
the content of those materials. Some say it was materials on ethnic
relations which was published for inside circles only. Some say it
was material published for general public. His was accused
with the same charges as Rebiya Kadir-- “attempting to pass secret
information across the border”. He was kept at a detention
center for one year incommunicado. His wife in Japan tried to learn
his whereabouts in vain during his detention. His wife
and kids in Japan are reportedly in difficult situation. Tohti
Muzart is one the few Uyghur Ph. Ds. Especially, he is a Ph. D in
the much needed history. Unfortunately, he could not escape
the ill-fate of Uyghur intellectuals. I hope his case will
come into light and he will be free soon. If
you want to learn more about Tohti, please visit the following web
sites.
WWW.Misiran.com
Http://uighurboy.xiloo.com
Sincerely, \ Oghuz Soyu