Another Uyghur Torchbearer Of 2018 Beijing Olympics Detained By China

Beijing: A Uyghur doctor, who served as a torchbearer in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, is serving an 18-year jail sentence, said a media report.

Abduqeyum Semet, a doctor in Kashgar, had been detained, received a lengthy prison sentence, and was serving his term in a detention centre administered by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), Radio Free Asia reported citing Abduweli Ayup, an Uyghur activist and linguist living in Norway, who confirmed the news from Uyghurs living in exile.

Notably, the XPCC is a state-owned economic and paramilitary organization sanctioned by the US government for its involvement in human rights violations against Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

Abduqeyum has reportedly been imprisoned since 2018 for "refusing to follow Chinese government directives", the media outlet reported, citing a court official in Kashgar.

Government officials issued papers on Abduqeyum so others could learn a lesson from his "bad example," said the official.

However, Chinese government officials refused to divulge information on Abduqeyum's prison term or the detention facility where he is being held.

The Chinese authorities seek to portray members of the Muslim minority group as happy, dancing "model Uyghurs" in arts and sports to cover up the suppression the community faces in China, Radio Free Asia reported citing Uyghur activists in exile.

According to an earlier report of the media outlet, at least eight Uyghur torchbearers from the 2008 Beijing Olympics are in prison in Xinjiang, including Abduqeyum and Adil Abdurehim, a former Chinese government official, serving a 14-year jail sentence for watching counter-revolutionary videos.

Notably, China has been rebuked globally for the crackdown on Uyghur Muslims by sending them to mass detention camps, interfering in their religious activities, and sending members of the community to undergo some form of forcible re-education or indoctrination.

The Chinese government, which stepped up its crackdown on Uyghurs in 2017, is said to have held 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in a network of detention camps in Xinjiang since 2017.