20 July 2009

Campaign for jailed Uyghur blogger

SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders is relaying the petition launched by Chinese writers and intellectuals calling for the release of prominent economist Ilham Tohti, founder of the blog Uyghur Online (http://www.uighurbiz.cn), who was arrested following rioting on 5 July 2009 in Urumqi, capital of the autonomous region of Xinjiang.

Chinese writer Wang Lixiong and his wife, the Tibetan writer, Woeser, launched the online petition calling for the economist's release, which had attracted 250 signatures by 14 July.

Tohti, a professor at the Central University of the Nationalities in Beijing, disappeared after saying that police had summoned him following the 5 July riots.

The text of the petition is available at: http://www.rsf.org/Campaign-for-jailed-Uyghur-blogger.html

For further information, contact Vincent Brossel, RSF, 47, rue Vivienne,
75002 Paris, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 70, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51,
e-mail: asia@rsf.org, Internet: http://www.rsf.org

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