Mehmet Emin Hazrat

From the same people… the same homeland…
One gave his life for justice.
The other rose by betraying his own people.
And now…
They lie behind the same bars, in neighboring cells.
Ilham Tohti and Nur Bekri…
The conscience and the betrayal of the Uyghur nation, confined within the same lifeless walls.

WHO IS NUR BEKRI?

Nur Bekri was the highest-ranking Uyghur ever in the Chinese Communist Party.
Mayor of Ürümqi. Governor of the Uyghur Autonomous Region. Head of China’s National Energy Administration.
But his climb was built on the crushed backs of his own people.
He was one of the architects behind banning the Uyghur language in schools.
And on July 5, 2009, the day thousands of Uyghurs were killed in Ürümqi…
The signature on the orders? His.

BETRAYAL AND CONFESSION

For China, Nur Bekri was a loyal puppet.
But in 2019, he was suddenly arrested at night.
Charged with corruption.
He avoided the death penalty by confessing to his crimes and cooperating.
And he was sentenced to life in prison.
China, true to form, used him — then threw him away.

WHO IS ILHAM TOHTI?

Ilham Tohti… an academic. A human rights defender. A father.
He devoted his life to being the voice of the Uyghur people.
Between 2006 and 2008, he led efforts to rescue 5,000 missing Uyghur children trapped in China’s inner provinces.
He fought against human trafficking, organ mafias, and prostitution rings.
He exposed China’s abuses with undeniable evidence.
And for that, he became a target.

A STORY OF VENGEANCE

For Nur Bekri, Ilham Tohti wasn’t just a threat — he was a personal enemy.
Ilham Tohti openly declared:
“Hundreds of thousands of Uyghur parents are jailed without charges,
and their children wander the streets, vulnerable to exploitation.
The one responsible for this misery is none other than Nur Bekri —
the Uyghur face of Beijing’s repression.”

Ilham cried out that 85% of Uyghurs were unemployed.
That they were excluded from industry, silenced, and impoverished.
And Nur Bekri couldn’t bear it.

Though Beijing hesitated, Bekri insisted:
Ilham was arrested and handcuffed in front of his children.
On September 23, 2014, under Bekri’s pressure, a court sentenced him to life in prison.

THE REVERSAL OF FATE

Years passed, and history turned.
Now, Nur Bekri shares the same prison with the man he tried to silence.
Same steel doors. Same echoing silence.
But their legacies are vastly different.

Ilham Tohti is honored across the world.
A symbol of peace, awarded by international institutions.
Nur Bekri is cursed by his own people — remembered only with shame.

THE LESSON

What does this story teach us?
Those who betray their people for power are always discarded.
But those who speak the truth for justice — though silenced — are never forgotten.

Let us continue to carry Ilham Tohti’s voice.
And never forget the tragic lesson of Nur Bekri.

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Because when truth is not heard, justice falls silent.

We will continue to echo the voices they tried to silence.