EU Awards Top Human Rights Prize to Uighur Activist Jailed in China

Ilham Tohti

Photographer: Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

Brussels (AP) -- The European Union awarded its top human rights prize to economist Ilham Tohti for his work defending China's Uighur minority and urged Beijing to release him from jail.

A moderate though outspoken Uighur critic of Beijing's policies in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, Tohti was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2014.