Yalqun Rozi is a writer, journalist, editor and literary critic. He is the author of several Uyghur-language books, including The Golden Temple in Taklimakan, Secret of Clay Castle, and Philosophy of Life. Dozens of his commentaries and literary critiques have been published in newspapers and magazines, and he was involved in the editing and publication of numerous Uyghur literature textbooks and teaching manuals that were overseen and approved for use in classrooms across Xinjiang by China’s Ministry of Education. 

Rozi was arrested without a warrant at his home in Urumqi, Xinjiang, on 6 October 2016. His arrest took place weeks after he and former colleagues were reportedly summoned to the offices of the state publisher, Xinjiang Education Press, where Rozi had previously served as editorial board member of its Uyghur Textbook Department, for questioning by the authorities over the publication of Uyghur literature and textbooks. Following his arrest, he was repeatedly subjected to interrogations and was unable to contact his family until his formal arrest on 30 December 2016, when he was relocated and held in pre-trial detention for two years without access to medical care or the ability to contact his family. On 3 January 2018, Yalqun Rozi was convicted of ‘inciting subversion of state power’ and sentenced to 15 years in prison.  

Rozi’s imprisonment is emblematic of the Chinese government’s campaign of cultural erasure against Xinjiang’s Uyghur population, which the United Nations views may constitute as crimes against humanity. Rozi is one of hundreds of persecuted Uyghur writers, poets, academics and other cultural figures who together represent the living embodiment of Uyghur culture.