Case and Profile of Xinjiang Uyghur Poet and Literature Teacher Qasim Sidiq, Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison

(Information Center for Human Rights Defense report) On April 29, 2026, this outlet learned of the case and profile of Xinjiang Uyghur poet and literature teacher Qasim Sidiq, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison. The details are reported as follows:

Qasim Sidiq: Born in the late 1950s, a native of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, his Uyghur name is Qasim Sidiq. He is a resident of the Humudan Maili residential community on Yili River Road, Yining City, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture; a Uyghur poet, literature teacher and amateur physicist; and a political prisoner currently detained in China.

He grew up in Yining City, Xinjiang Ili Kazakhstani Autonomous Prefecture. After graduating from university, he initially worked at the Yining City Education Bureau, and later served as a literature teacher at the middle school in Dadamutu Town (Township), Yining City. During this period, he wrote and published numerous literary works and poems. Several years later, he founded a literary and artistic association and served as its head. Because he was talented in literature and passionate about writing, his works and academic papers made a certain contribution to advancing local culture. In particular, his poetry often explored themes such as wisdom, ignorance and the struggles of human nature. For example, one poem contains the lines, “The ignorant take a drop of water for an ocean, while the wise see the ocean in a drop of water,” while another lyrical poem, I Fell in Love with Such a Killer, displays his bold and metaphorical style. He also wrote papers such as Aesthetic Psychology, demonstrating his extensive knowledge as a poet and educator. A search of the internet should turn up some of his poems and articles. In addition, he was learned and talented, with diverse interests. He was not only accomplished in literature, but also conducted considerable research in physics, publishing multiple papers on physics and becoming a well-known amateur physicist locally. However, this learned and talented intellectual was subjected to ideological persecution by the Chinese Communist authorities because of his literary writing. In 1998 alone, he was detained after being accused of an “ideological crime” because of his literary creations.

In 2017, as the Chinese Communist authorities were tightening their control over Xinjiang, many Uyghur and other ethnic-minority elites were seized by the authorities for various reasons and sent to “re-education centers” for “reform.” He, too, was taken away and interrogated by police on multiple occasions. In March 2017, he was formally arrested by Yining City police. The grounds for the charge were song lyrics from a work he had written in 2006, including a poem titled Letter to Hotan. The work was said not only to contain “nationalist sympathy,” but also to convey certain political messages. As a result, his books were accused of having “problems,” and he was charged with serious offenses including “inciting ethnic hatred.” In 2018, he was ultimately sentenced by the Yining City Court of Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture to 20 years in prison for “inciting ethnic hatred” and other charges, with his sentence running until March 2037. It is reported that during his detention and imprisonment, he suffered torture and abuse, and his health remains a serious concern. Details about the prison where he is currently serving his sentence are unavailable.