2014-12-11
Abduweli Ayup and his daughter in a file photo.
Photo courtesy of Ayup’s family
Chinese authorities have freed a U.S.-educated Uyghur linguist who sought to set up schools to promote the ethnic minority language in the Xinjiang region after more than a year in prison, according to a close relative.
Abduweli Ayup was ordered jailed 18 months and fined 80,000 yuan (U.S. $13,000) for “illegal fundraising” in August by the Tengritagh (in Chinese, Tianshan) district court in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi after being detained for a year.
He was released on Nov. 27 after his partners in an education venture, Muhemmet Sidik and Dilyar Obul, who were convicted in the same trial, appealed their verdict, the relative said, speaking to RFA’s Uyghur Service on condition of anonymity.