The Save Uyghur Campaign would like to recognize BBC News for the release of The…
Prisoner of Haqq: Azmat Bahti
Background
Date of Birth: February 26th, 1973
National Identification Number: 65010319730226283X
Chinese Official Name: 艾斯买提 百合提
Uyghur Spelling: ئەزىمەت بەختىEducation: Kashgar Normal College (喀什师范学院), Bachelor’s Degree in HistoryProfession: History Professor at Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Teachers’ College
National Identification Number: 65010319730226283X
Chinese Official Name: 艾斯买提 百合提
Uyghur Spelling: ئەزىمەت بەختىEducation: Kashgar Normal College (喀什师范学院), Bachelor’s Degree in HistoryProfession: History Professor at Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Teachers’ College
Kashi Donglu Suite 33, Urumqi City, Phone: (0991)0901 6615014, Contact Person: Ismayil Niyaz, Postal code: 830013
Reason for Arrest: Unknown
Detention History: Arbitrarily detained in the beginning of 2019 and released at the end of the year. Detained again in May 2021, not released since.
About Azmat Bahti
Azmat Bahti is a 48 year old history professor in Urumqi, East Turkestan arbitrarily detained by the Chinese government in May, 2021. He was previously detained and released within one year in 2019. Mr. Bahti has worked at Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Teachers’ College since his graduation from Kashgar Normal College. He has not committed any crimes, instead being arrested purely due to his Uyghur ethnicity.
“My brother-in-law Azmat Bahti is a knowledgeable history professor, a background that placed him at risk for detention,” said Gulruy Asqar, his sister-in-law and a Virginia-based educator. “Starting in 2014, the Chinese government has detained numerous Uyghur scholars including Azmat due to their importance in disseminating Uyghur historical, cultural, and intellectual knowledge. The subjugation of Uyghur intellectuals like my brother-in-law has been at the top of the CCP’s agenda for years, with Party spokesperson Wang Wen Bing falsely calling the concentration camps in which they are housed as now-closed ‘reeducation centers’.”
“I demand the Chinese government release my detained family members, my brother-in-law Azmat Bahti, and my nephew Ekram Yarmuhemmed. I continue to speak on their behalf until their release.”
News articles highlighting Azmat Bahti’s case:
We lived in fear of who will be the next to be taken to the CCP camp in the past five year.