Ekpar Asat
Detained Since: April 2016
Charges: Inciting ethnic hatred and ethnic discrimination.
Sentence: 15 years in prison.
Biography: Ekpar Asat is a Chinese Uyghur entrepreneur, philanthropist, and app developer who went missing in 2016. Asat developed a social media platform for Uyghurs in China called Bagdax, with over 100,000 users. Asat's position as the head of Bagdax made him a household name for Uyghurs and likely drew the attention of Chinese authorities. Asat also participated in the State Department's International Visitor's Leadership Program, a prestigious foreign exchange program. He became involved in the program after a visit with then-American Ambassador to China Max Baucus in 2014. His interactions with the staff and the ambassador were impressive, and the embassy's staff encouraged Asat to apply for the program. Once accepted to IVLP, Asat's cohort focused on "Journalism in the United States."
While in the United States as an IVLP participant, he met with his sister, Rayhan Asat, twice, once in Washington and once in New York. At the time, Ms. Asat was in her final year at Harvard Law School and was preparing to become the first Uyghur to ever graduate from HLS. Ekpar had planned to return to the United States with his parents to attend her graduation ceremony. Those plans were called off when Asat was detained and went missing in April 2016, just weeks after his return to his hometown of Urumqi from the United States. In early 2020, the Chinese Embassy in Washington informed Senator Coons that Asat was sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of inciting ethnic discrimination and ethnic hatred. Trial records are not available, and it is unknown if Asat received due process.
Asat is being held in solitary confinement in Aksu prison camp.
Advocate: Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE)
Updates:
- Ekpar Asat was included as one of 16 cases in the U.S. Department of State's #WithoutJustCause Political Prisoners Campaign. This campaign, launched on January 11, 2023, is an advocacy and diplomatic engagement initiative with the goal of securing the release of the included political prisoners. Other prisoners included in the campaign at the time of its launch are Pham Doan Trang and Buzurgmehr Yorov (January 11, 2023, U.S. Department of State).
- In recognition of the seventh anniversary of Ekpar Asat's disappearance, Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and Jim Risch (R-ID) released a statement on April 7, 2023, calling for his immediate release, as well as for the government of China to move him to a facility in the city of Urumqi, allow him access to legal counsel and contact with his family, and provide adequate medical care while he is in custody (April 7, 2023, Office of Senator Chris Coons).
- In the opinions adopted in 95th session of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) held in November 2022 and published on March 20, 2023, the WGAD determined Ekpar Asat to be arbitrarily detained and called for his immediate, unconditional release (March 20, 2023, OHCHR).
- On April 28, 2023, Ekpar Asat's sister, Rayhan Asat, published an op-ed in the Hill calling for the United States Government to do more to secure Ekpar's release (April 28, 2023, The Hill).
- During their statement for the "Item 4 General debate on human rights situations that require the Council’s attention" at the 55th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the European Union called for the immediate, unconditional release of Ekpar Asat, Ilham Tohti, Gulshan Abbas, Gao Zhisheng, Xu Zhiyong, Wang Yi, Rahile Dawut, Wang Bingzhang, and John Cao (who had been released on March 5, 2024) in China and Vladimir Kara-Murza in Russia, among others, as well as raised the general situation of arbitrary detainees in Belarus and Iran, and highlighted concerns over the death in custody of Alexei Navalny (March 20, 2024, Delegation of the European Union to the UN).
- On November 26, 2024, Rayhan Asat, Ekpar's sister, published an op-ed with the Atlantic Council titled "China’s atrocity crimes in Xinjiang are entering an even darker phase. The UN must act," which detailed the methods used against Uyghur activists by the government of China. Cases referenced in this article included Ekpar Asat and Gulmira Imin, among others (November 26, 2024, Atlantic Council).