The Václav Havel Library in Prague hosted a special commemorative event on the occasion of the 12th anniversary of the imprisonment of Professor Ilham Tohti, the prominent Uyghur scholar and human rights advocate who remains behind bars in China.
Named after the former Czech president and dissident Václav Havel, the library brought together leading human rights figures, academics, and activists to draw attention to Tohti’s case and to the broader issue of political prisoners in China. Among the speakers were Enver Can, founder and president of the Ilham Tohti Initiative; renowned French sinologist, academic, and human rights activist Marie Holzman; Dr. Dilnur Reyhan, President of the European Uyghur Institute and senior researcher at the Oriental Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences; Chinese lawyer and human rights defender Teng Biao; and Ilham Tohti’s daughter, Jewher Ilham.
The event also featured an opening address by Pavel Fischer, Chair of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security Committee of the Czech Senate. The discussion was moderated by Magdalena Slezáková, foreign desk editor at Deník N.
Speakers emphasized that six of the thirteen recipients of the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize to date are currently imprisoned, including Professor Ilham Tohti, who was awarded the prize in 2019. Tohti is a well-known Uyghur intellectual from China who devoted more than two decades to promoting dialogue and mutual understanding between Uyghurs and the Chinese authorities, while consistently advocating for the fundamental rights and freedoms of the Uyghur people through peaceful means.
As a result of these efforts, he was arrested in 2014 on charges of “separatism” and sentenced to life imprisonment following a two-day show trial that was widely condemned by the international community. Since 2017, his family has received no information about his condition, after Chinese authorities cut off all contact between Tohti, his relatives, and his lawyers.
Ilham Tohti is a Uyghur academic and economist who previously taught at Minzu (Central University for Nationalities) University in Beijing. He gained international recognition for addressing the social, economic, and cultural challenges faced by Uyghurs. His case has become a symbol of the repression of intellectual freedom in China.
In addition to the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize, Ilham Tohti was awarded the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2019, in recognition of his non-violent struggle for human rights and freedom of expression. Despite these honors and sustained international advocacy, he remains imprisoned, with growing concern over his health and well-being.
Participants at the Prague event underscored the continued relevance of Václav Havel’s legacy, stressing that solidarity with prisoners of conscience like Ilham Tohti is essential to defending human dignity, freedom of thought, and the rule of law worldwide.
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