Chinese authorities have allegedly tortured Uyghur filmmaker into confession

A Uyghur filmmaker on trial for “separatism” and “terrorism” in Xinjiang told the court he was tortured into confessing crimes he didn’t commit, RFA reported.

According to the article published yesterday, Ikram Nurmehmet, 32, and four Uyghur friends – all of whom studied in Turkey together – are being tried in Urumqi People’s Intermediate Court for alleged connections to Turkey-based organizations seeking independence for East Turkistan, the Uyghurs’ preferred name for the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

The trial of the five men comes amid the ongoing arrest and jailing by Chinese authorities of Uyghurs who have studied or traveled abroad, and who have been accused of engaging in terrorist or separatist activities.

Nurmehmet has denied charges against him and informed the court that he was tortured into confessing, the article adds, noting that the judge was unable to conclude the case and the verdict was postponed to January as Ikram told the court he was tortured.

According to a report in The Guardian in early November, Nurmehmet told the court he was kept in a dark cell for 20 days during interrogation and was tortured.

Chinese law stipulates that any confessions extracted under torture should be excluded in trial, but in practice, that rule doesn’t function, an associate director in Human Rights Watch’s Asia division confirms.