BRUSSELS: The European Parliament on Thursday awarded its Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to Ilham Tohti.
Ilham is an economist fighting for the rights of China’s Uighur minority and the implementation of regional autonomy laws in China. In 2014 the human rights defender was sentenced to life imprisonment for separatism-related charges.
The EU’s top human rights award will be presented on December 18 at a ceremony in the French city of Strasbourg.
Earlier this month, Tohti received the Council of Europe’s Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize.
The award recognizes the “suffering that Uighurs have gone through,” Ilham’s daughter told international media. She welcomed the gesture as a reflection of the EU’s position.
(Agencies)
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