Beijing [China], March 2 : Former World Uyghur Congress President Dolkun Isa's brother Yalkun Isa is facing a 20-year imprisonment in China's Xinjiang for allegedly "inciting terrorism," according to local law enforcement and security personnel at the school where he worked, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported.
At 63 years old, Yalkun was an educator at the Aksu Education Institute located in Aksu city, where numerous Uyghur instructors were detained in 2017 during a period characterized by mass arrests of Uyghur educators, entrepreneurs, and cultural figures under the pretext of re-education to combat what China termed terrorism and religious extremism, according to RFA report.
Yalkun's brother Dolkun Isa served as the president of the Germany-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC) from 2017 to 2024. Living in exile since 1994, Dolkun has consistently faced intimidation from China due to his advocacy for Uyghurs.
A law enforcement officer confirmed Yalkun's arrest was due to his communication with individuals in foreign nations via phone but also indicated that he had accessed content from international websites, the report said.
The officer mentioned that he had seen the sentence handed to Yalkun, which stated that the educator was sentenced to 20 years for supposedly urging those around him to create an organization and engage in "terrorism," as cited in the RFA report.
Another police officer from Aksu, who chose to remain anonymous to discuss Yalkun freely, stated that the teacher was taken into custody in late 2017 as his phone records indicated he had conversed with individuals abroad, as per the report.
During a month-long interrogation, Yalkun was pressured into confessing that during his conversations with Dolkun, he was allegedly instructed to establish an organization in Aksu and carry out acts of "terrorism," according to the police officer as quoted by RFA.
According to a police officer at the Aksu Education Institute, Yalkun was handed over to state security agents for questioning. After his closed trial, he was transferred to Aksu Prison. However, political leader from Aksu's state security police said that Yalkun's case had been transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department, according to RFA report.
The plight of China's Uyghur community, mainly located in Xinjiang, has garnered considerable global attention. Reports suggest extensive human rights violations, including forced labour, arbitrary detentions in alleged "re-education" camps, and invasive surveillance.