BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - A bi-partisan group of US lawmakers have nominated jailed Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti, who is sentenced to life on charge of 'separatism', for the Nobel peace prize.
A letter of nomination, led by Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ), was sent to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee.
Eleven other members of the Congress also signed the letter, addressed to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee Chair Reiss-Anderson and its Members.
They said the name of Tohti was recommended for the highest award in recognition of his commitment to peaceful inter-ethnic dialogue between ethnic Uyghurs and the Han Chinese majority in China.
The nomination comes at a time the Chinese government and the Communist Party continue to perpetrate gross human rights violations against Uyghurs and other ethnic minority Muslims. More than a million of them are reportedly detained in 'political reeducation' camps in China.
Despite Tohti's dedication to nonviolence and reconciliation, in September 2014, a court in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in northwest China had sentenced him to life in prison on the charge of separatism.
The letter alleges that Chinese officials have chosen to silence the economics professor at Minzu University in Beijing, and to embark on a massive crackdown on Uyghur intellectuals, the broader Uyghur community, and other Muslim groups in the region.
Tohti, who is also a writer and founder of the website Uyghur Online, has been recognized with numerous honors and awards during his detention and imprisonment, including the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, and the Liberal International's Prize for Freedom.
In April 2014, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had called on the Chinese government to immediately release him and grant him compensation.
'The unjust imprisonment of Professor Tohti echoes that of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, his compatriot, who sadly passed away in 2017 while in official custody,' the lawmakers noted in the letter.
The signatories include Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Representatives Ro Khanna (D-CA), Jim McGovern (D-MA), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Thomas Suozzi (D-NY), and Mike Gallagher (R-WI).
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