AFP, STRASBOURG, FRANCEThe daughter of jailed Uighur academic Ilham Tohti received the EU’s top rights prize on his behalf on Wednesday, saying she did not even know if he was still alive. Tohti ran the UighurOnline Web site, which wrote in Uighur and Chinese about social issues, gaining prominence as a moderate voice drawing attention to ethnic tensions in the region. Ilham said the release of Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov — who also won the Sakharov Prize while behind bars — gave her hope for her father. “I was just told one of the recent laureates of the Sakharov Prize was released from prison. “My father created a Web site to create a platform for Uighurs, Chinese and other minority people to post articles and their understanding freely on the Web site and join discussion forums,” she said.
