Ilham Tohti: Jailed for Fighting for Dialogue, Ethnic Harmony and Rule of Law
- Kde: Knihovna Václava Havla, Ostrovní 13, Praha 110 00
- Kdy: 16. leden 2026, 19:00 – 21:00
Six of the 13 laureates of the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize to date are currently in prison, including Professor Ilham Tohti. Ilham Tohti is a publicly known Uyghur intellectual from China and the laureate of the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize for 2019. For over 20 years, he has been engaged in developing dialogue and understanding between the Uyghurs and the Chinese. For this, he was sentenced to life in prison in a two-day rigged trial in 2014. His family has not heard from him since 2017, when he was denied contact with them and his lawyers.
On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Ilham Tohti’s arrest, the Václav Havel Library has organized a commemorative and advocacy event with the participation of his daughter, Jewher, who lives in exile and has actively participated in the fight for her father’s liberation. The saddening 12th anniversary of his unjust imprisonment will be marked at the Václav Havel Library by French sinologist, journalist and writer Marie Holzman, Senior Researcher at the Oriental Institute of the Czech Academy of Science and President of the European Uyghur Institute Dilnur Reyhan, Chinese lawyer and political activist Teng Biao, who as a member of Weiquan lawyers - Rights Defence Network in China, became a finalist of the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize 2013, and Ilham Tohti’s tireless defender and the president of the Ilham Tohti Institute Enver Can. The event will be opened by Senator Pavel Fischer, who was among those who nominated Ilham Tohti for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Magdalena Slezáková, foreign desk editor at Deník N, will moderate the discussion.
The evening will take place in English without interpretation.