About Alim Sulayman

Alim Sulayman is a 34 year-old Uyghur dentist arbitrarily detained by the Chinese government in July, 2016.

In 2014, Alim went to Turkey to learn the Turkish language for a brief period of time before returning to the Aksu Prefecture to continue practicing dentistry. However, in 2016, he was arbitrarily detained by the Chinese government under accusations of having ties to Uyghur organizations such as the Uyghur Academy based in Turkey. The Chinese government claimed his alleged affiliation with the Uyghur Academy constitutes separatist alignment. Alim Sulayman has never attended meetings held by the Uyghur Academy, an academic institution focused on research and academic work, not state separatism.

Innocent actions such as travelling outside of China or intellectual activity are often enough for Chinese authorities to dub an Uyghur as a “religious extremist” and arbitrarily detain them.

Alim Sulayman’s brother, Aziz, a Virginia-based epidemiologist, stated, “I constantly worry about my brother. I have no way to which concentration camp he’s locked up in. I have completely lost contact with all of my family members since Alim’s arbitrary arrest.”

“I have been vocal about his arrest through calling on the international community to help free my brother and millions of my fellow Uyghurs who are also imprisoned in China’s massive network of concentration camps.”

According to Aziz Sulayman, Alim is likely located in one of the concentration camps close to Korla City due to statements from several of his acquaintances from Aksu mentioning the transfer of Alim to the city.

Alim Sulayman is one victim among millions of other Uyghurs who have been arbitrarily detained since China’s genocide against the Uyghurs began in 2016. Many Uyghurs who live in exile report that their detained family members in Chinese-occupied East Turkestan (aka, Xinjiang, China) have received lengthy prison sentences without judicial trial.

His brother’s advocacy led the publication about his case on mainstream media outlets.