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伊力哈木·土赫提，新疆維吾爾族經濟學學者和「維吾爾在線」網站創辦人，被中國政府以「分裂國家罪」逮捕，控告他以教師身份宣揚新疆獨立。三天前，烏魯木齊法庭判處他有罪，並給予他無期徒刑。伊力哈木一直以來明確表示他對於國家分離的不同意，並勸導中央政府以柔性手段治理新疆以免再次引起如同2009年多數由穆斯林教維吾爾族人民發起的暴動事件。
即便美國和歐盟都表明關注並要求中國釋放伊力哈木，中國政府堅決反對外國政府和人權組織干涉這則「內政」。此項舉動，明確表示了習近平政府近期以來對於中國少數民族和內部抗爭的強硬處理手段。但這樣的政治暴力，只會將中國內部既有的族群對立惡化，並提高人民對於中央集權的不滿。
Ilham Tohti, an Uighur economist scholar and the founder of Uyghur online was arrested by the Chinese government for “separatism”. Three days ago, Tohti was found guilty of his charges and ordered a life sentence in jail. Ironically, Tohti has always expressed his disagreements with separatism and persuaded Beijing authorities change their oppressive tactics in policing the people in Xinjiang to prevent again the large-scale riots led by mostly Muslim Uighurs in 2009.
While the US and EU expressed concerns over China’s treatment against Tohti, the Chinese government insisted that foreign governments and human rights organizations should leave the “internal affairs” alone to China. This event has shown how the Xi Jinping regime employes extreme and violent tactics against China’s ethnic minorities and its internal insurgences. However, this strategy will most likely only escalate the already existing ethnic tensions and increase people’s discontents with the centralized, repressive regime.
Wen Liu is a doctoral candidate in social psychology at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. She is also a freelance writer on sexuality and politics in the US and Asia.