ICFR has called for the immediate release of Uyghur filmmaker Ikram Nurmemet, who has been imprisoned on false charges, possibly connected to his studies in Turkey. China continues to target Uyghur intellectuals with arbitrary arrests.
On November 7, 2024, the International Coalition of Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR) issued a statement calling for the immediate release of Uyghur filmmaker Ikram Nurmemet, who is imprisoned on false allegations.
The ICFR expresses its support and deep concern for Uyghur filmmaker Ikram Nurmehmet, whom the Chinese authorities have sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison on politically motivated and unfounded claims.
“According to sources closer to the trial, Nurmehmet’s case is based on a false confession that was forced out of him under torture, as he was held captive by the authorities in a dark room for twenty days straight. The ICFR strongly condemns the treatment and proceedings of the authorities, and calls on the Chinese government to release Ikram Nurmehmet immediately,” the statement said.
“HE WAS ARRESTED BECAUSE OF HIS TIME IN TURKEY”
The core of the accusations against Ikram is the time he spent in Turkey, between 2010-2016, as a student of film at Marmara University in Istanbul. Returning to China upon graduation, he went on to become a prolific director of commercials and short films. His 2020 film, Elephant in the Car, was nominated for the Golden Firebird Award at that year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival.
“The Chinese authorities have now used Ikram’s study abroad time as the pretense for their persecution of the 33-year-old filmmaker, starting with having him surrender his passport in 2018. The government’s bewildering treatment of Ikram, leading up to his eventual arrest in 2023, has been documented by several international newspapers,” the statement said.
“HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF UNJUSTLY IMPRISONED UYGHURS MUST BE RELEASED”
Maya Wang, associate China director at Human Rights Watch, says: “More than seven years after the Chinese government began its abusive ‘Strike Hard Campaign’ in Xinjiang, the authorities continue to prosecute young Uyghurs like Ikram Nurmehmet on politically motivated charges. Ikram Nurmehmet and the hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs who have been wrongfully imprisoned should be immediately freed.”
Noting that Ikram Nurmemet is currently being held in Ürümqi No. 1 Detention Center, along with four other Uyghurs who have been sentenced with him, the ICFR urgently calls on the international film industry to raise visibility for our Uyghur colleague, and help amplify our demands to the Chinese authorities to release and stop persecuting Ikram Nurmehmet, so that he may go back to sharing his and the Uyghur community’s stories through his films.
UIGHUR INTELLECTUALS TARGETED IN ARRESTS
In its genocide of Uyghurs, China is particularly targeting professionals and intellectuals, such as academics, writers, musicians, filmmakers, and businesspeople. Thousands of intellectuals, including Uyghur economist Ilham Tohti, writers Abdukadir Jalaleddin and Yalkun Rozi, poet Adil Tuniyaz, and academics Arslan Abdulla and Nebijan Tursun …, are currently being held in prison or concentration camps on flimsy pretexts, despite the fact that they have not been involved in any crime.
Ilham Tohti, who is likely being held in the same prison as Ikram (Ürümqi Prison No. 1), was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2014 on false charges by a sham court ruling. Ilham Tohti has been denied visits from family members for years and has been subjected to torture.
Although many human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have condemned Tohti’s unjust imprisonment, expressed concern about his health, and called for his immediate release, the Chinese government has not responded.
Veteran Uyghur activist Enver Can who lives in Germany for more than a half century says, “Though the CCP planned to silence Ilham Tohti behind the bars, fearing his influence, the Uyghur scholar is now much more known by the free world community, and has been awarded with at least 10 international prizes and was six times a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.” According to Mr. Can, China is losing ground by keeping Ilham Tohti incommunicado: Thus the international outcry about his whereabouts and health conditions is steadily growing.
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