Case Background
Nurmuhemmet Yasin is an award-winning freelance Uighur writer. He is known for his numerous short stories, essays, and three volumes of poetry: First Love, Crying From the Heart, and Come on Children. Some of his work was in Uyghur-language middle-school literature textbooks. His short story “Wild Pigeon” (“Yawa Kepter”) was broadcast through Radio Free Asia’s Uyghur Service and has been translated into English. He is an honorary president of Uyghur PEN; an honorary member of PEN America, English PEN and the Independent Chinese PEN; and received the Human Rights Watch Helman/Hammett award in 2009. Yasin is married with two sons.
In November 2024, he was detained for the publication of his work “Wild Pigeon” in the Kashgar Literary Journal. “Wild Pigeon” is the allegorical story of the son of a pigeon king who is trapped and caged by humans while on a mission to find a new home for his flock. He eventually commits suicide by eating a poisoned strawberry rather than sacrifice his freedom. Chinese authorities considered the story to be a criticism of their government’s presence in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.
After a closed trial in February 2005 at which he was denied a lawyer, Yasin was sentenced by the Maralbesh Country Court to 10 years in prison. Korash Huseyin, the editor of the Kashgar Literary Journal, was sentenced to three years in prison for publishing “Wild Pigeon.” Upon appeal, the Kashgar Intermediate Court upheld the 10-year sentence; on May 19, 2005 Yasin was transferred to Urumqi No. 1 Prison, where he was denied visitors.
In earlier years, it appeared that Yasin had remained active on the internet, occasionally posting on Uighur-language message boards like Meshrep. On May 23, 2006, Radio Free Asia translated and published his essay “What is Love?,” which had been written before his imprisonment.
In 2013, a number of reports were received indicating that Nurmuhemmet Yasin had passed away from a severe illness sometime in 2011 while being held at Shaya prison in western China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, alarming many human rights and free expression groups. However, these reports were disputed when a close relative of Yasin came forward and stated that she had visited him in July 2012, and that he seemed to be in fairly good health. This relative has also stated that she received a letter from Yasin in October 2012, which she believes to be authentic. Chinese authorities have remained silent on the issue, and it is still uncertain whether or not he is alive. Yasin was expected to be released sometime in 2014, if reports of his death are false.
In Their Words
The poisons from the strawberry flow through me like the sound of freedom itself, along with gratitude that now, now, finally, I can die freely. I feel as if my soul is on fire—soaring and free.
Nurmuhemmet Yasin’s “The Wild Pigeon”, March 2024
Similarly, when a tired and weary person returns home from far away, he says to himself, ‘Finally, I have come home,’ before stretching himself out on his bed to rest. This joy, too, is beyond compare. Again, when a writer who has been up all night working puts the last full-stop at the end of his article; this, too, is boundless consolation for the heart. These all are phenomena of love.
Nurmuhemmet Yasin’s “What is Love?”, July 2004