The last time Tothi spoke with his son was when he called in May 2016 to check how his mother was doing. She had just undergone surgery for cancer. After that, Tothti’s son never called his parents again because he was afraid of causing trouble for them, given that he was calling from abroad. He was living in Turkey with his wife, Peride Yasin, who is unfortunately now also believed to be imprisoned in Xinjiang.
Between 2019 and 2020, through connections in Xinjiang, Tohti’s son discovered that his father had been arrested. However, he does not know the official reasons for the arrest, and he believes that his father was arrested solely because of his Uyghur ethnicity. Tohti’s son does not know whether his father is now held in a prison or an internment camp, nor does he have any details of any sentence.
Tothi’s son has lost all connections with family and friends in Xinjiang since 2020.