Gheyret Niyaz was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment
Human rights activists have condemned a prison sentence imposed by China’s communist authorities on an ethnic Uyghur journalist. Gheyret Niyaz, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, after he gave an interview to a Hong Kong newspaper last August, shortly after violent ethnic rioting in the western region of Xinjiang.
“Niyaz’s draconian prison sentence raises serious concern about the authorities’ respect for freedom of expression, and capacity and commitment to protect fundamental rights and freedoms,” said Sharon Hom, executive director of Human Rights in China.
The Washington-based Uyghur American Association said the sentence “represents the Chinese government’s policy of no tolerance for any type of Uyghur dissent, as well as the government’s campaign to tightly control the flow of information and stem public criticism of official policy.”
Both HRIC and the UAA are grantees of the National Endowment for Democracy.
Niyaz is considered a moderate because he does not advocate independence for Xinjiang – also known by Uyghurs as East Turkestan.
The sentence is the latest in a series of severe measures against the country’s pro-democracy intellectuals and activists. Liu Xiaobo, the principal author of Charter 08, a pro-democracy manifesto, last year received a sentence of 11 years.
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