These are the voices of imprisoned #Uyghur poets in #Uyghurstan under the ruthless colonisation of #China’s regime. May the world hear their silenced voices from behind bars, and may justice one day answer them. @pen_uyghur @PENamerica @pen_int pen.org/aziz-isa-elkun-poetr…

Bir gözyaşını şiire dönüştürmek: Bahsettiğiniz o “gizli gözyaşları” bir kitaba dönüştürülüp (örneğin Penguin gibi büyük bir yayınevi tarafından) tüm dünyaya yayıldığında, bu öykü bireysel bir keder olmaktan çıkıp tüm insanlığın ortak vicdanı haline gelir. dergizan.com/2026/06/07/aziz…

If you criticize the Chinese government from overseas, your parents can lose their pensions, your siblings can lose their jobs, and your children can be barred from universities. This is not a side effect of CCP policy. It is the policy. Human rights organizations Safeguard Defenders and Chinese Human Rights Defenders have documented what they describe as a systematic revival of lianzu, China's ancient collective punishment system, adapted for the Xi Jinping era. When an overseas dissident speaks out, the consequences flow to everyone who shares their blood inside China. The documented forms are specific. Parents and siblings lose jobs in state enterprises or government positions. Family businesses face sudden, relentless tax audits with no resolution. Pensions and social benefits are frozen without formal charges. Children, nieces, and nephews receive political black marks on their records that block university admission, passport applications, and the political vetting required for any stable career in China. The cases are real and named. Dong Jianbiao, father of activist Dong Yaoqiong, who threw ink on Xi Jinping's portrait in a 2018 video, was detained after his daughter's act and died in prison under circumstances that remain unexplained. Activist He Fangmei's young children, including a newborn, were placed in psychiatric facilities or disappeared from contact after she continued speaking out. Wang Quanzhang, a lawyer arrested in the 2015 crackdown on human rights attorneys, had his child face school difficulties while he was held incommunicado for years. In December 2023, China's own Legislative Affairs Commission quietly acknowledged that some local governments had been applying collective punishment in anti-fraud campaigns, restricting family benefits and loans of suspects' relatives, and called it unconstitutional. The rebuke was narrow. It covered those specific campaigns. It did not address the same practices applied to political dissidents, which continued without interruption. The United Nations, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch have all raised concerns. China denies systematic collective punishment and describes these actions as lawful enforcement. The families living under these measures are not in a position to publicly disagree. The CCP reaches through borders, through blood, and across generations to ensure that the cost of speaking is paid by everyone who loves you. #China #CCP #HumanRights #TransnationalRepression #Lianzu #Dissidents #Geopolitics #CollectivePunishment #XiJinping #FreedomOfSpeech

It's been 37 years since the June 1989 Tiananmen Massacre, when countless peaceful pro-democracy protesters were killed in Beijing. To this day, the Chinese government has failed to accept responsibility for its crimes. Learn more:

The Chinese government works tirelessly to erase the memory of June 4, 1989 from the internet. The CCP's censorship of Tiananmen is not just about the past—it's about controlling the present. China remains the world's worst environment for internet freedom, with pervasive censorship, surveillance, and punishment for peaceful online expression. Explore Freedom House's latest findings from our #FreedomOnTheNet report: freedomhouse.org/country/chi…

Photos from Tiananmen protests in 1989 continue to inspire hundreds and thousands of people. Read @amyhawk_'s latest for the Guardian: "‘Every year I get new pictures’: the fight to preserve the memory of Tiananmen" Also adding one of my favorites. theguardian.com/world/2026/j…

During our activities in Japan, we met and exchanged views with Örkesh Dölet, the leader of the Chinese democracy movement that began in Tiananmen Square.

Today, 37 years later, #China’s genocide against Uyghurs has left me separated from my family and friends for nearly a decade. Yet I hold onto hope: darkness cannot last forever. Freedom, justice,and dignity will prevail. #Tiananmen37 #June4th #Uyghur #HumanRights #NeverForgetJ6

🎂On the 60th birthday of #Uyghur professor Rahile Dawut, we have gathered messages from her friends, colleagues and former students. Rahile was forcibly disappeared in 2017 and is reportedly serving a life sentence in #China. Today we remember the many lives she has touched.

Just started reading this - a beautiful anthology of #Uighur poems by Aziz Isa Elkun. I'm reminded of Yezidi songs and the role of oral history in cultural resilience amidst persecution.

The attention on the Uyghurs has been fading. Especially now under Trump, we have seen a decrease in overall attention to human rights. However, the visit is an opportunity for Trump to press Xi Jinping to end the crimes against humanity in Xinjiang. nytimes.com/2026/05/13/us/po…

Breaking! Eight independent @UN experts have sent a communication to China on the severe restrictions of China’s so-called “ethnic unity law” on the #Uyghurs’ cultural way of life, religious freedom, freedom of expression & practice of language etc. They also raised transnational repression and other international law issues that may arise from the “authoritarian law.”

ئۇيغۇر چايخانسى سۆھبەتلىرى (107-سان) Uyghur Chayxansi Soxbetliri (107-San) ئەزىز ئەيسا ئەلكۈننىڭ ئامىرىكىدىكى پائالىيەتلىرىگە نەزەر Eziz Eysa Elkünning Amérikidiki Pa'aliyetlirige Nezer #ئۇيغۇر_چايخانسى_سۆھبەتلىرى #ئۇيغۇر #ئۇيغۇرچە_فىلىم #ئەزىز_ئەيسا_ئەلكۈن #ئابدۇرېھىم_غېنى

The granular details of Xinjiang’s continued repression are now coming to light, thanks to a rare source: firsthand testimony from a former insider within the Chinese police apparatus. foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/16…

Where is my Family? Contemporary Uyghur Activism in the Transnational Diaspora. Musapir & Rune Steenberg. Critical Asian Studies. Published online: 19 Apr 2026. doi.org/10.1080/14672715.202…

New essay from me to discuss how the multilateral institutions such as the @UN and many democracies failed to protect the rights of Uyghurs not due to constraints of the system but by prioritizing other interests. I offer some solutions @AtlanticCouncil atlanticcouncil.org/dispatch…

Day 59 / Poem 59: Uyghur Wahitjan Osman: ئاگاهلاندوروش (The Warning) @pen_uyghur Wahitjan Osman is included in the anthology Imprisoned Souls, which brings together 25 imprisoned Uyghur poets, edited and translated by @AzizIsaElkun , who reads the poem youtu.be/SVFS1S6VW_k?is=-WZF…

Thank you to everyone who joined us last week for a screening of “An Unanswered Telephone Call” and conversation on transnational repression & cultural erasure. We’re especially grateful to @AzizIsaElkun for sharing his powerful work and speaking so movingly.

RT @MamutjanAB: Today marks the 9th year of my wife Muherrem’s arbitrary imprisonment as part of #China’s genocidal mass atrocities against…