The Biden administration has brought 3 Uyghurs to the US, including Ayshem Mamut, the mother of Uyghur activist Nury Turkel, as part of a prisoner swap with China.
Last week, US officials said China released and sent to the US three Americans, including an FBI informant, in exchange for two detained Chinese spies and at least one other Chinese citizen, according to an article by Edward Wong in the New York Times on December 2, 2024.
As part of this deal, China also agreed to quietly allow Nury Turkel’s mother, Ayshem Mamut, and two other Uyghurs to be brought to the US. It was learned that one of the other two Uyghurs was an American citizen and they were a father and daughter.
20-YEAR LONGING ENDED
Nury Turkel is the highest-ranking Uyghur figure in the diaspora, a member and former chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.
China does not allow Uyghurs to travel abroad and had specifically banned Ayshem Mamut, the mother of Nury Turkel, from leaving the country because of her advocacy for Uyghur rights.
Chinese authorities told Ayşe Mamut to pack her bags. The 73-year-old Uyghur mother became very worried. She could be taken to a prison, detention center, or concentration camp, like other Uyghurs who sometimes disappear for years. However, four days later, she was reunited in Virginia with two sons she had not seen in 20 years and four grandchildren she had never met.
HOPE FOR THE RESCUE OF ILHAMM TOHTI
Enver Can, founding president of the Ilham Tohti Initiative, says Turkel’s mother’s release increases the hope that the next Trump administration may also try to make a deal to get the unjustly imprisoned Prof. Ilham Tohti’s release, as international concern has been growing about the whereabouts and health conditions of the Uyghur scholar.
Ayşem Mamut is the second Uyghur after Ms. Rebiya Kadeer who was released from Chinese prison and flown to Washington with U.S. engagement in 2005. Ms. Kadeer, who is also referred to as the “Mother of Uyghurs,” led the World Uyghur Congress for more than a decade. Kadeer, who was then the deputy chairwoman of the Chinese People’s Congress, was considered the richest Uyghur and one of the five richest people in China.
Last week it was reported that her most prestigious skyscraper in Urumchi, also referred to as the “Rabiye Kadir Business Palace,” was destroyed.
Be First to Comment