Dolkun Isa

Dolkun Isa was born 2 September 1967 in Aksu and raised by his grandparents in Kalpin County in Aksu Prefecture until 9 years old, later he moved back to Aksu City and completed his Middle school and High school there. In 1984 he was admitted by Faculty of Physics of Xinjiang University and studied there until his dismissal in early 1988 when it was just half-year before his graduation time due to his human rights activities for minorities, after that he went back to Aksu and worked for education. In 1990, he went to Beijing and studied English and Turkish until 1994. In 1994, he left the country due to detention threat and studied in Gazi University in Ankara, Turkey and received a master's degree in Politics and Sociology,[5] later he went to Europe and sought asylum there. In 2006 he became a citizen of Germany.[6]

China's government claims that Isa is the vice-chairman of the East Turkestan Liberation Organization, however, this is denied by Isa. This claim by China has led to China's issuance of a red notice to Interpol which has not been acted on by Germany or any other country in the West where he has subsequently traveled.[7] He has been on a Chinese list of wanted terrorists since 2003.[8] Isa has condemned all terrorist activities.[6]

In February 2018, Isa's red notice was removed by Interpol, to strong protest of China. The removal dissuaded concerns that Interpol president Meng Hongwei, a Chinese national, would exert undue influence over Interpol's decision-making process.[9]

Isa called for a boycott of the 2008 Summer Olympics which were held in Beijing due to an alleged cultural genocide that was being conducted against the people of East Turkestan, as China's western Xinjiang region is called by the Uyghurs, and Tibet. Isa told AFP that China had failed to improve human rights in Tibet and Xinjiang, where Beijing is accused by rights groups of cracking down on local ethnic groups. Uyghur activists have been seeking independence or autonomy of East Turkestan.[10]

Isa was admitted to Taiwan in 2006 to attend the meeting of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, a movement co-founded by Taiwan in 1991, during the administration of pro-localization president Chen Shui-bian. There were reports in Taiwanese media in July 2009 that Isa had secretly entered the country in the lead-up to the World Games which were hosted in the southern city of Kaohsiung. This prompted the National Immigration Agency of the then China-friendly KMT government to issue a ban on his travel to Taiwan.[11] Rebiya Kadeer was denied a visa to visit Taiwan later in 2009, a move linked to Isa's alleged connections with terrorists. Premier Wu Den-yih noted that if Isa or Kadeer stepped down from their respective positions in the World Uyghur Congress as secretary-general and president, the ban would be lifted.[12]

On 21 May 2018, during the resumed session of the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations in the UN, the Chinese delegation member Yao Shaojun claimed that Isa had been "participating, inciting and funding separatism and terrorism for years", adding that while participating in regional dialogues at UNPFII he had indicated that he was "representing WUC instead of STP", despite only having accreditation as an STP representative. "All the above actions seriously violates relevant rules and regulations of the United Nations," the letter said, urging the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations "to uphold the authority of the UN Charter and withdraw the consultative status of STP".[34]

Kelley Currie, the United States representative to the UN for economic and social affairs, accused Beijing of preventing the exiled Uighur activist Dolkun Isa from entering UN headquarters in New York to speak at a forum on indigenous rights last month. Beijing demanded that the UN-accredited organization that invited Isa to speak at the United Nations, the Society for Threatened Peoples, be stripped of its accreditation. The United States sprung to Isa's defense, saying China was seeking to retaliate against an irritating advocate who has shed light on political repression against the Uighurs. The United States and Germany maintain that there is no evidence of links between the two groups.[35]

On 29 June 2018, Radio Free Asia reported that Isa's mother died while in Xinjiang, according to security officials.[36] In June 2018, Isa learned from a close family friend that his mother, Ayhan Memet, died on 17 May at the age of 78, but the WUC president was unsure if she had been incarcerated in one of the many "political re-education camps" throughout the XUAR, where authorities have been detaining Uyghurs accused of harboring "extremist" and "politically incorrect" thoughts since April 2017.[37]

• Dolkun Isa, President of World Uyghur Congress 2019 Democracy Award