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.
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Uighur Doctoral Student Disappears; Family Concerned She Is In Re-Education Camp

Guligeina Tashimaimaiti, a Uighur Ph.D. student, writer and scholar returned from a trip to Malaysia on December 26, 2017 and her family has not seen nor heard from her since. CCS has written the Party Secretary of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region requesting her release and her safety.

July 7, 2018

Chen Quanguo
Party Secretary of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region
479 Zhongshan Lu
Wulumuqi Shi, Xinjiang
People’s Republic of China

Dear Secretary Quanguo:

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 to express our grave concerns for Guligeina Tashimaimaiti, a Uighur Ph.D. student, writer and scholar who has not been heard from since December 26, 2017 when she returned from Malaysia to her home in Yili, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. Her family is concerned that she may have been sent to a re-education camp.

We urge you to provide information to her family as to where Guligeina Tashimaimaiti is being held, and why. Unless she has been charged with an internationally recognized crime for which there is credible evidence, we further urge you to release Guligeina Tashimaimaiti immediately and unconditionally. If she is charged with a crime, her trial must be in line with international standards.

While she remains in detention, we urge you to ensure that she has access to her family and adequate legal representation, and that she is not tortured or ill-treated.

As her colleagues and fellow scholars, we urge you to seek and provide to us information on her whereabouts and legal status and unless she is charged with a legitimate criminal offense, to assure that she is released and allowed to resume her studies.

We thank you for your attention to this most serious matter, and we look forward to receiving your response.

Sincerely,
Joel L. Lebowitz, Paul H. Plotz, Walter Reich, Eugene M. Chudnovsky, Alexander Greer
Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists

cc:
Ambassador Cui Tiankai,
Embassy of the People’s Republic of China
3505 International Place, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Phone: 202 495 2266 I Fax: 202 495 2138
Email: chinaembpress_us@mfa.gov.cn

Who We Are

Co-chairs

Joel L. Lebowitz, Rutgers University

Paul H. Plotz, M.D., Washington, DC

Walter Reich, George Washington University

Eugene Chudnovsky, Lehman College

Alexander Greer, Brooklyn College

Vice-chairs

Astronomy – Arno Penzias, New Enterprises Associates*

Biology – Max E. Gottesman, Columbia University

Chemistry – Zafra Lerman, MIMSAD Inc.

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

Engineering – Philip Sarachik, NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering

Mathematics – Simon Levin, Princeton University

Medical Sciences – J. Joseph Blum, Duke University

Honorary Board Members

Nancy Andrews, Duke University

David Baltimore, California Institute of Technology*

Alan J. Bard, University of Texas

Jacob Bigeleisen (deceased), SUNY, Stony Brook

Raoul Bott (deceased), Harvard University

Owen Chamberlain (deceased), University of California, Berkeley

Stanley Deser, Brandeis University

Edward Gerjuoy, University of Pittsburg

David Gross, (2004 Nobel Prize in Physics), Kavil Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara*

Pierre Hohenberg (deceased), New York University

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

James Langer, University of California, Santa Barbara

Peter Lax, New York University

Louis Nirenberg, New York University

Marshall Nirenberg (deceased), National Institutes of Health*

Honorary Board Members

John C. Polanyi, University of Toronto*

Stuart Rice, University of Chicago

Sir Richard J. Roberts, (1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology & Medicine), New England Biolabs*

Myriam Sarachick, City College of New York

Harold Scheraga, Cornell University

Sylvan Schweber (deceased), Brandeis University

Maxine Singer, Carnegie Institution of Washington

Alfred I. Tauber, Boston University

Steven Weinberg, University of Texas, Austin*

Myrna Weissman, Columbia University

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

* Nobel laureate