The sentence of prominent Uyghur dissident Yushanjiang • Jilili, originally sentenced to life imprisonment, reduced to 2031

(Rights Defense Network Information Center report) On June 24, 2026, this outlet learned that the sentence of prominent Uyghur dissident Yushanjiang • Jilili, who was originally sentenced to life imprisonment, was reduced to an additional 15 years in prison on February 1, 2016, amid the unceasing and strong appeals by international human rights organizations and pressure from international public opinion, with his sentence scheduled to end in February 2031.

Yushanjiang • Jilili: Born on March 1, 1969, he is from Gashi County in the Kashgar Prefecture of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (called “Payzi Awati” in Uyghur), also known as Huseyin Celil or Yusain Jilili; he is Uyghur, a Muslim, initially a farmer at a farm in Gashi County, later the imam of a local mosque, a Canadian citizen, a prominent Uyghur dissident, a promoter of nonviolent political activities and a human rights activist, and a political prisoner detained in China.

In his early years, he was sentenced to prison on charges of forming a political party, and was released after completing his sentence in the late 1990s. In 2000, he managed to flee the control of the Chinese Communist authorities. In 2001, he was accepted as a refugee by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Turkey, and obtained Canadian citizenship in 2005; in March 2006, while visiting his parents-in-law in Uzbekistan, he was suddenly and arbitrarily arrested by the Uzbek authorities when renewing his visa; in June of the same year, the Chinese authorities carried out a cross-border abduction and brought him back to China on the grounds that he had participated in terrorist activities by the “East Turkestan Liberation Organization” and the “East Turkestan Islamic Movement”; on April 19, 2007, he was sentenced by the Urumqi Intermediate People’s Court of Xinjiang at first instance to life imprisonment and lifelong deprivation of political rights for the crime of “separating the state,” and to 10 years in prison for the crime of “organizing, leading, and participating in a terrorist organization.” The two sentences were combined, and it was ultimately decided that he would serve life imprisonment and be deprived of political rights for life; dissatisfied, he appealed. On July 10, 2007, the Higher People’s Court of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region announced its second-instance ruling, rejecting the appeal and upholding the original judgment; later, amid the unceasing and strong appeals by international human rights organizations and pressure from international public opinion, his sentence was reduced to an additional 15 years in prison on February 1, 2016, with his sentence scheduled to end in February 2031.

He is currently serving his sentence at the First Prison of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.