Jewher Ilham is An Inspiring Voice For Uyghurs

Americans are finally taking notice of China’s oppression of Uyghur Muslims.

Although professional sports teams and Hollywood ignore and downplay the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) ghastly treatment of this ethnic minority, others are catching on thanks to firsthand dissident testimonials. 

Jewher Ilham, for example, didn’t expect to be a voice for her fellow Uyghurs. 

This changed after her fatherlauded scholar Ilham Tohti, was arrested at the Beijing airport in February 2013. Tohti was en route to Indiana University in Bloomington with his daughter for a fellowship. 

Why Jewher Fights for Her Father

“I want to thank the Chinese government for one thing: It was allowing me to leave,” Jewher emphasized. 

“I really want to say thank you but I also want to say please allow everyone, every other innocent Uyghur, whoever—if they’re children, someone’s sister, someone’s brother, someone’s father, someone’s mom—please allow them to have free will. To be able to have free will, if they want to stay or leave.” 

After being detained and arrested, Jewher’s father was sentenced to life in prison in 2014. She’s uncertain if he’s still even alive today, since she hasn’t heard about his status in three years. 

The activist said her father was a unifying “moderate” voice between Uyghur Muslims and Han Chinese. But that, among many things, was unsettling to the CCP. 

“What got him [my dad] targeted by the government? It was because of his advocacy work,” she said.

She wrote a book, Jewher Ilham: A Uyghur’s Fight to Free Her Father (2015), to draw awareness to her father’s ordeal and the persecution of fellow Uyghurs. 

The 26-year-old author and speaker is on a mission to educate people about China’s inhumane treatment of Uyghurs. And she is undoubtedly succeeding in her quest to do that. 

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