Nomination of Ilham Tohti for the Nobel Peace Prize

Academics worldwide are called upon to nominate Associate Professor Dr. Ilham Tohti—an academic unjustly sentenced to life imprisonment by China—for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize.

Associate Professor Dr. Ilham Tohti, a 54-year-old economist at Minzu University in Beijing, demonstrated extraordinary commitment over two decades to promoting peaceful dialogue between Uyghurs and the Han Chinese majority in China. The website Uyghur Online provided information on various economic and social issues in the Uyghur region and proposed solutions to them. Despite Mr. Tohti’s commitment to nonviolence and reconciliation—and despite his strong influence on students and the public from diverse backgrounds, including Uyghur, Mongolian, Tibetan, and Han—he was sentenced to life imprisonment in September 2014 following a brief and unfair trial.

Mr. Tohti’s courageous work displayed an exceptional understanding of how to bridge the social divide between the Han majority and other ethnic groups in China, particularly the Uyghurs. While his ideas were regarded by the public as progressive, they were rejected by the government. The Chinese Communist Party chose to silence Tohti and to carry out a sweeping campaign of repression against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other Muslim peoples in the Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Meanwhile, Tohti has become a symbol of the Uyghurs’ struggle for genuine autonomy and freedom. Today, however, we are witnessing the mass detention of millions of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim-majority peoples, ongoing for more than five years in the Uyghur region. Survivors of the camps report starvation diets, forced labor, pervasive surveillance, gender-based sexual violence, forced sterilization, torture, forced indoctrination, sleep deprivation, the forced ingestion of unknown medications, denial of medical care, and high rates of death in detention. These camps can best be described as modern-day concentration camps and represent the largest mass detention of an ethnic minority since the Second World War.

In conclusion, Ilham Tohti’s fair and objective approach distinguishes him as an exceptional advocate for peace and justice, especially under conditions of oppression.

WHY SHOULD ILHAM TOHTI BE NOMINATED FOR THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE?

Since his imprisonment, Ilham Tohti has received at least ten international awards, including the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for human rights and freedom of expression in 2019, as well as the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize awarded by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Since 2018, Ilham Tohti has been nominated annually for the Nobel Peace Prize by scholars and members of parliament from many countries, including EU member states, the United States, and Turkey. Nominated for the past six years, he has succeeded at least twice in being shortlisted among the final five candidates from more than 300 nominees.

Should Ilham Tohti be awarded the Peace Prize, it could be a significant step in drawing international attention to the fact that Tohti and other intellectuals like him are deprived of their freedom in Chinese prisons without any concrete criminal charges.

If awarded, the prize could affirm the legitimacy of the peaceful solutions and academic work that Tohti has advocated for years, while also sending a powerful message against China’s systematic human rights violations and genocidal policies toward the Uyghurs. By increasing global public attention to this issue, it could foster broader discussion of the Uyghur question on international platforms.

STEPS FOR NOMINATING A CANDIDATE FOR THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE:

First, register on the Nobel Peace Prize Nomination Form page via the first link below.
Then, complete the nomination process on the page accessed through the second link.

ILHAM TOHTI’S PERSONAL DETAILS AND NOMINATION STATEMENT

Name: Tohti, Ilham / Minzu University of China
Title: Associate Professor
City: Beijing
Country: China

200-Character Nomination Statement (You may edit the content in the field where you paste it):

I would like to nominate Ilham Tohti for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, because of the current situation of the Uyghurs under the CCP, and the life sentence of Mr. Tohti in spite of his commitment to peaceful dialogue between Uyghurs and the Han.

2,000-Character Nomination Statement (You may edit the content in the field where you paste it):

Ilham Tohti, an economics professor at Minzu University in Beijing, has demonstrated an unprecedented commitment to peaceful dialogue between Uyghurs and the Han Chinese majority. Despite Mr. Tohti’s dedication to nonviolence and reconciliation, in September 2014, he was subject to an unfair trial and sentenced to life in prison. Mr. Tohti’s courageous work embodied the insight and guidance on how to address the social gap between Han and other ethnic groups, especially Uyghurs in China. His ideas were seen as progressive by the public but not the government. The government has chosen to silence Tohti and to carry out a comprehensive campaign of repression towards Uyghur, Kazakh, and other Muslim peoples in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. In the meanwhile, Prof. Tohti became a symbol of Uyghur struggle for their freedom and self-determination, since mass internment of three million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim peoples, and possibly more.

Camp survivors who have reached safety describe starvation diets, torture, forced indoctrination, sleep deprivation, forced swallowing of unknown medications, withholding of medical care, and a high rate of deaths in custody.

Prof. Tohti knew the risks he was taking by speaking and writing openly about ethnic policy and development in the XUAR. Prior to his imprisonment, Tohti told the VOA that “even if I should die at the hands of the domestic security or state security police—don’t think that I’ve been killed by Han people and let hatred come between our two peoples.” Even after being sentenced to life in prison in September 2014, he issued a statement through his lawyer that “peace is a heavenly gift to the Uyghur and Han people. Only peace and good will can create a common interest.”

I believe there is no one more deserving of the Committee’s recognition in 2026 Nobel Peace Prize than Professor Tohti, who embodies the peaceful struggle for peace and human rights in China.