Beijing [China], August 25 : Campaign for Uyghurs (CFU), a Washington-based Uyghur rights organisation, has highlighted the case of Elijan Ismail, a Uyghur entrepreneur who was arrested and sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment for performing 'Zakat', the yearly donation practice underscored in Islam.
"Uyghur businessman Elijan Ismail, founder of East Turkistan-based business Xinjiang Sadaqet Bio-Technology Co. Ltd., in fulfilling his duty as a Muslim to perform Zakat, has been sentenced to 18 years imprisonment," the CFU stated in a post on X.
{{{{twitter_post_id####}}}}#Uyghur businessman #ElijanIsmail and founder of #EastTurkistan-based business Xinjiang Sadaqet Bio-Technology Co. Ltd., in fulfilling his duty as a #Muslim to perform #zakat, has been sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment.https://t.co/3v1x9MIK6l
How does the criminal #communist…
— Campaign For Uyghurs (@CUyghurs) August 23, 2024
The CFU also questioned how can the "criminal communist regime" justify this arrest.
"How does the criminal communist regime of CCP-controlled China justify this? Some of the recipients of his charity were political prisoners and as such, in the name of "anti-terrorism" and "anti-separatism," they imprisoned him"," it stated.
A profile piece by Radio Free Asia highlighting the case of Elijan Ismail claimed that several donations by the Uyghur businessman went to China's political prisoners and people who needed medical attention in his city.
According to RFA, he had made a name for himself as a prominent Uyghur entrepreneur in the year 2000. The Uyghur individual founded Xinjiang Sadaqet Bio-Technology Co., Ltd., in his hometown of Maralbexi in Xinjiang. He later on moved to Xinjiang's capital Urumqi in 2008.
Abduweli Ayup, founder of Uyghur Help, or Uyghuryar, a Norway-based nonprofit organization, said that Ismail joined a group of businessmen in Urumqi who made charitable donations.
According to the RFA report, China had forbidden the practice of 'Zakat' a religious obligation for Muslims to donate a portion of their wealth each year to charitable causes in Xinjiang since 2016. Hence, police branded them an "ethnic separatist group," Ayup said.
The report quoted an officer at the Maralbexi market police station in Kashgar prefecture who claimed, that after an investigation of Ismail's charity, the authorities arrested Ismail and the others.
Ismail, 49, was arrested in Urumqi in 2017 and was sentenced later to 18 years in prison for "inciting separatism" because the recipients of his donations included families of political prisoners.
The case again shows how Chinese authorities target and arrest numerous Uyghur businessmen to monitor, control and assimilate members of the Uyghur ethnic group in Xinjiang. The Chinese authorities have used bogus charges of separatism and terrorism as an excuse to target the Uyghurs.
According to the RFA report, Ismail along with other entrepreneurs "provided financial support to the poor and promoted the care of the wives and children of those who were arrested," the police officer said. They had collected and distributed money and in-kind goods to more than 10,000 people since 2014, he added.
"I'm not exactly sure what the issue is with distributing money. Under my division, there might be 12 families he helped who are families of political prisoners." the policemen stated.
Additionally, around 20 people were arrested in connection with Ismail's case, and none of them have been released, and the length of their sentences is unknown, he added.
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