Committee of Concerned Scientists

An international non-profit organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars dedicated to protecting the human rights and scientific freedom of our colleagues around the world.

An independent non-profit organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars dedicated to protecting the human rights and scientific freedom of our colleagues around the world.

Scholar Ilham Tohti Remains in Prison

Ilham Tohti

Professor Ilham Tohti. Photo: Voice of America via Wikimedia Commons

Ilham Tohti, an Economics professor formerly at Minzu University in Beijing, and an advocate for the rights of the Chinese Uighur community, still sits in jail, sentenced to a life in prison for expressing his beliefs in a peaceful way. CCS has written again to President Xi Jinping asking him to please investigate this case and release Ilham Tohti as well as the other individuals that are in prison as a result of this case.

April 7, 2016

President Xi Jinping
The State Council General’s Office
Fuyoujie, Xichengqu
Beijingshi 100017
People’s Republic of China

Your Excellency:

The Committee of Concerned Scientists is an independent organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars devoted to the protection and advancement of human rights and scientific freedom for colleagues all over the world.

We write today to express our continuing concerns around the case of Ilham Tohti, an Economics professor at the Minzu University in Beijing and an advocate for the rights of the Chinese Uighur community. Prof. Tohti was sentenced to life in prison after a two-day trial (that was closed to the public and at which he was not allowed to call witnesses in his defense). His conviction for “separatism” occurred in September of 2014 and was followed later that year by the sentencing of 7 of his students to prison terms on the same charge. In 2015, Ilham Tohti’s lawyer, Wang Yu, was detained, and, in January of this year, she was formally charged with “subversion of state power”.

This succession of arrests and criminal charges stem from Ilham Tohti peacefully exercising his fundamental right to free expression, a right guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which China is a signatory. Furthermore, the trial of Ilham Tohti appears to have lacked due process that is required under Chinese law. The charging of his lawyer adds to the appearance that the legal proceedings against Professor Tohti have been fundamentally unfair and have conflicted with both international human rights and Chinese legal standards.

We are, again, writing to urge you to reverse the conviction of Ilham Tohti and to reconsider imposing harsh sentences on those who peacefully exercise their right to freedom of expression.

Thank you for addressing our concerns. We look forward to a quick and informative response.

Sincerely,

Joel L. Lebowitz, Paul H. Plotz, Walter Reich,
Eugene M. Chudnovsky, Alexander Greer

Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists

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Who We Are

Co-chairs

Joel L. Lebowitz, Rutgers University

Walter Reich, George Washington University

Eugene Chudnovsky, Lehman College

Alexander Greer, Brooklyn College

Vice-chairs

Biology – Max E. Gottesman, Columbia University

Chemistry – Zafra Lerman, MIMSAD Inc.

Computer Science – Rachelle Heller, The George Washington University

Engineering – Philip Sarachik, NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering

Computer Science – Jack Minker, University of Maryland, College Park

Mathematics – Simon Levin, Princeton University

Honorary Board Members

Nancy Andrews, Duke University

Myles Axton, Chief Editor, Genetics and Genomics Next

David Baltimore, California Institute of Technology*

Alan J. Bard, University of Texas

David Gross, University of California, Santa Barbara*

James Langer, University of California, Santa Barbara

Peter Lax, New York University

Giorgio Parisi, Roma I University La Sapienza

John C. Polanyi, University of Toronto*

Stuart Rice, University of Chicago

Sir Richard J. Roberts, New England Biolabs*

Maxine Singer, Carnegie Institution of Washington

Alfred I. Tauber, Boston University

Myrna Weissman, Columbia University

Former Honorary Board Members

Jacob Bigeleisen (deceased), SUNY, Stony Brook

Raoul Bott (deseased) Harvard University

Owen Chamberlain (deceased), University of California, Berkeley

Stanley Deser (deceased), Brandeis University

Edward Gerjuoy (deceased), University of Pittsburgh

Pierre Hohenberg (deceased), New York University

Walter Kohn (deceased), University of California, Santa Barbara*

Louis Nirenberg (deceased), New York University

Marshall Nirenberg (deceased), National Institutes of Health*

Myriam Sarachick (deceased), City College of New York

Harold Scheraga (deceased), Cornell University

Sylvan Schweber (deceased), Brandeis University

Steven Weinberg (deceased), University of Texas, Austin*

Rosalyn S. Yalow (deceased), Mount Sinai School of Medicine*

* Nobel laureate

Committee of Concerned Scientists

c/o Alexandra R. Bender, Executive Director
P.O. Box 273
Mountainhome, PA 18342
abender@concernedscientists.org