site.btaMEP Ilhan Kyuchyuk Receives Ilham Tohti Initiative's Human Rights Award

MEP Ilhan Kyuchyuk was awarded the Ilham Tohti Initiative's human rights prize here on Thursday for his work in defence of human rights and in particular, the rights of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China. The prize was awarded by the President of the Ilham Tohti Initiative, Enver Can, and by Ilham Tohti's daughter, Jewher Ilham.

Kyuchyuk said at the event that in 2016, he took Tohti's case as a personal cause. The MEP described Tohti's detention and the continued harassment of his family and the Uyghur activists, the human rights violations, religious restrictions, cultural oppression, a call us to action. Kyuchyuk reported that he is relaunching the initiative to have Tohti nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

In 2016, Tohti was nominated by Kyuchyuk and 42 other MPs for the Sakharov Prize. In 2017, he was awarded the Liberal International's Prize for Freedom.