Chinese authorities have sentenced a Uyghur filmmaker to 6 1/2 years in prison for “separatism” and “terrorism,” a court official and a person with knowledge of the situation said.
Ikram Nurmehmet, 32, and four friends with whom he had studied in Turkey were tried in Urumqi People’s Intermediate Court for alleged connections to Turkey-based organizations seeking independence for East Turkistan, the Uyghurs’ preferred name for the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwestern China.
He was arrested in May 2023 and accused of recruiting and cultivating members, and raising funds for an East Turkistan organization when he was in Turkey, a police officer who was in court during the trial told Radio Free Asia in an earlier report.
The court announced its verdict in January, and the men were sentenced to 5 1/2 or 6 1/2 years in prison, said the source with knowledge of the matter who declined to be identified for fear f reprisal by authorities.
During the trial last October, Nurmehmet told the court he was tortured into confessing crimes he didn't commit, a police officer in the courtroom told RFA.
A source said that since then the filmmaker hasn’t confessed to anything. “He was sentenced despite not admitting to anything,” he said.
The case reflects ongoing arrests and jailing of Uyghurs who have studied or traveled abroad, and who have been accused of engaging in terrorist or separatist activities.
During his studies in Istanbul, Nurmehmet kept his distance from the Uyghur community there, said Abduweli Ayup, an activist and researcher based in Norway who has investigated the fate of Uyghur students in Xinjiang who returned from Turkey.
He also stayed out of trouble and socialized only with people in the film industry, Ayup said.
After studying in Turkey for six years, Nurmehmet moved to Beijing to produce films about Uyghurs’ lives, he said.
An official from the Urumqi court confirmed Nurmehmet’s sentencing, saying he received the longest sentence because he was considered the leader and that the four others were convicted in connection with his case.
A police officer from the Urumqi Yamalik police station told RFA that authorities had not yet transferred Nurmehmet to prison and that he remains in a detention facility.
“Ikram Nurmehmet was initially taken to a four-story building across from the detention center,” the police officer said. “He was still in the detention center when I brought in new detainees.”
Translated by RFA Uyghur. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.