Case and résumé of Xinjiang Kashgar merchant Abdureshit Tohti, sentenced to 16 years and 11 months

On July 6, 2026, this outlet learned of the case and résumé of Abdureshit · Tohti, a merchant from Kashgar, Xinjiang, who was sentenced to 16 years and 11 months, and hereby reports as follows:

Abdureshit · Tohti: Born on August 6, 1966, he is from Shaor Village, Saybag Township, Shufu County, Kashgar Prefecture, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. His Uyghur name is Abdureshit TohtiAbdureshit. He formerly worked as a primary school teacher and later as a government employee; after retirement, he became a merchant. He is a political prisoner detained in China.

During his youth, he studied agronomy at Kashgar University in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; after graduating from university, he returned to his hometown and first worked on organizing agricultural activities with a local work team in Shufu County. Later, because he was an avid reader (he had once dreamed of opening a bookstore), he was transferred to a primary school to work as a teacher. During this period, because of his active efforts to join the Party, he also became a member of the Chinese Communist Party, and in the course of his work he was gradually promoted to become a government official; around 1993, he opened a flour mill and allowed local villagers to mill wheat themselves; reportedly, after retiring from public office, he became a merchant;

His life had originally been comfortable and smooth, and his two daughters also successfully went to Turkey to study. However, beginning in 2017, Xinjiang began imposing strict controls on a large scale. In April 2017, he was still able to speak with his daughters by telephone regularly, but he suddenly lost contact on June 18. Later, inquiries made through intermediaries revealed that he, his wife Tajigul · Qadir (Tajigul Qadir), and his eldest son Ametijan · Abdureshit had all been taken by authorities to the village center on June 18 for “study.” On June 20, he and his eldest son were formally criminally detained by the Shufu County police. The two were accused of allegedly “disturbing social order” and “preparing to carry out terrorist activities”;

On December 13, 2017, a certain court in Kashgar Prefecture rapidly sentenced him to 16 years and 11 months in prison on the suspected charges of “disturbing social order” and “preparing to carry out terrorist activities,” with his sentence scheduled to end in May 2034; his eldest son Ametjiang · Abdureshit (Ametjan Abdurashid) was also sentenced to seven years in the same case and should have completed his sentence in June 2024. He is currently serving his sentence at Gaimilik Prison in Tumxuk City, Xinjiang (Gaimilik Prison, Tumxuk City, Third Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps; postal code: 843903).