Seven brothers from a prominent Uyghur family in Kashgar have been sentenced to terms ranging from nine to 17 years for charitable work “supporting Uyghurs” and overseas trips, as part of the ongoing mass incarceration campaign against the mostly Muslim group that started in 2017, three people with knowledge of the situation said.
The Obulqasim brothers — Abdusalam, 45; Abduhelil, 47; Mametsidiq, 49; Yusupjan, 51; Memmettursun, 54; Pazil, 56; and Sabir, 62 — were businessmen active in construction materials, electrical appliances and other products.
They were detained and imprisoned amid mass arrests of Uyghurs and are serving their sentences in prisons in Kashgar and Urumqi, the sources said.
“They are one of the richest families in Kashgar,” said Abduweli Ayup, founder Uyghur Hjelp, also known as Uyghuryar, a Norway-based nonprofit organization that documents Uyghurs who have been arrested and imprisoned. He said he confirmed through his information network that the seven brothers were all jailed.
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They are among the estimated 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims detained under flimsy pretexts during mass detentions that began more than seven years ago, as Chinese authorities rounded up businesspeople, clerics, intellectuals and those who had traveled abroad years before or who taught the Quran to youngsters.
Claiming they were fighting separatism and terrorism, China has clamped down harshly on Uyghurs, penalizing those who communicated with Uyghurs outside of Xinjiang or offered financial support.
Though Chinese authorities long prohibited Uyghurs from traveling abroad, there was a brief period after 2010 when they were encouraged to obtain passports after international pressure.
But later, authorities deemed suspicious those who did obtain passports or merely applied for them and subsequently detained in camps and prisons.
Active businessmen
Their father, Obulqasim, now deceased, sold and repaired watches in Kashgar. The brothers started businesses selling various goods at the city’s Id Kah Market, a prime business district.
Over the years they established the Aq Orda Trade Center, selling construction materials and electrical appliances, according to Ayup. They also owned stores in Kashgar.
Pazil expanded the family business into cargo shipping, establishing a presence in Central Asia and Turkey, and became a leading Uyghur businessman. The brothers were also involved in the hotel industry.
The seven brothers were sentenced in May 2019 and received prison terms of 17, 13, 11 or nine years, said a security guard from Kashgar Prison’s employee residence building.
Five of the brothers, including Abduhelil and Pazil, are serving their sentences at Kashgar Prison, also known as Yerken Peylu Prison. The other two are in jail in Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital, he said.
Targeted for supporting Uyghurs
Pazil and Yusupjan were accused of “supporting Uyghurs” through charitable work, while the others either traveled abroad or displayed “ethnic hatred and discrimination,” the security guard said, referring to discrimination against Han Chinese.
Their arrests came at a time when many Uyghur businessmen were targeted for their charitable activities, Ayup added.
“I heard they were collecting money for people,” the prison security guard said. “Starting from 2000, they had been a key family to be under watch.”
The brothers helped other Uyghurs get jobs in Kashgar, performed charity work to benefit orphans and the poor, and contributed to children’s education, Ayup said.
Pazil and Yusupjan were detained for their charity work and for their connections with Uyghur expatriates during their business operations in the cargo shipping business, he said, citing people with knowledge of the situation.
Their financial assistance to expatriate Uyghurs in need while doing business abroad was later labeled as “supporting” Uyghurs, said another source with knowledge of the situation, who did not want to be identified for fear of retribution by authorities.
They were accused of supporting Uyghurs abroad, and three other brothers were accused of ethnic hatred and discrimination, the guard said.
Authorities disclosed the details of their sentences to their families after their arrest, as there were no prior announcements or notifications about their detention,” said the security guard.
Another brother, Abduhelil, a filmmaker and entrepreneur, was first arrested in October 2017, held in a pretrial detention for more than 18 months and sent to a "re-education" camp, RFA reported this July. His films promoted Uyghur culture.
Authorities released Abduhelil in December 2019, but rearrested him in September 2023 for “inciting separatism” for promoting Uyghur culture in his films. He is serving a 15-year sentence in Kashgar Prison.
Translated by RFA Uyghur. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.