Nuremuhamet Yasin and Korash Huseyin, Xiangjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (northwestern China )
Uighur writer Nuremuhamet Yasin was sentenced during a closed trial with no legal representation in November 2004, to 10 years in prison for “inciting Uighur separatism” in a short story published in a literary journal. Korash Huseyin, chief editor of the Kashgar Literary Journal, was also given a three-year prison sentence. Wild Pigeon, the story in question, is a first-person narrative of a young pigeon who is caught and caged by humans while trying to find a new home for his flock. Rather than sacrifice his freedom, the pigeon kills himself by swallowing a poisonous strawberry, as Yasin’s own father had done in similar circumstances years earlier. Yasin has been permitted no visitors since his arrest and there are serious concerns for his well-being. Korash Huseyin was released from prison in February 2008.

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