A distinguished Uyghur human rights activist, singer and interpreter was amongst dozens of activists honored at a reception at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday to acknowledge British contributions to humanitarian efforts all over the world.
King Charles III expressed his gratitude to Rahima Mahmut, founder and govt director of Cease Uyghur Genocide and the U.Okay. director of the World Uyghur Congress, for her work defending Uyghurs and different Turkic Muslims in China.
The king mentioned referred to as work “a vital endeavor” and thanked her for “the distinctive contributions you’re making to this vital endeavor,” Mahmut later instructed Radio free Asia.
On her LinkedIn account, Mahmut mentioned she was “thrilled and honored” to be representing the Uyghur neighborhood on the humanitarian reception.
A local of Ghulja, or Yining, in Xinjiang, Mahmut determined to go away her homeland due to the bloodbath of Uyghur youth who had taken to the streets on Feb. 5, 1997, to protest the Chinese language authorities’s discriminating insurance policies towards the predominantly Muslim folks.
Mahmut has lengthy been a vocal critic of the Chinese language authorities, taking intention on the mass incarceration, surveillance and persecution of Uyghurs in Xinjiang and countering Beijing’s official propaganda from abroad.
For greater than 20 years, she additionally has used her inventive expertise as a singer to make the Uyghur voice identified by music, whereas drawing the eye of the worldwide neighborhood to the disaster in Xinjiang.
Mahmut, who has lived in the UK since 2000, has carried out Uyghur songs at main live shows and cultural festivals in Britain, throughout Europe and in america.
“As an [sic] Uyghur human rights activist, I’ve constructed a cross-party, cross-community coalition of UK-based activists working to finish the genocide in my homeland,” Mahmut says on her LinkedIn profile, including that she has been concerned in high-profile parliamentary campaigns, together with the Genocide Modification to the U.Okay. Commerce Invoice, Parliament’s recognition of the Uyghur genocide, and the diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
Additionally in attendance on the reception had been Saleh Saeed, chief govt of the Disasters Emergency Committee — a U.Okay. group that brings collectively 15 prime home support charities to lift funds rapidly and effectively for abroad crises — British actress and activist Dame Joanna Lumley, actor and comic Sir Michael Palin, and actor and director Adrian Lester, who all have launched appeals for the nonprofit.