As other top schools accept CCP money, Harvard orgs work to free brother of law school alumna from CCP concentration camp

At least 76 student organizations at Harvard University are calling for the Chinese Communist Party to release the brother of a Harvard Law graduate currently imprisoned in a Uyghur concentration camp.

Their statement, authored by the Harvard Law School Advocates for Human Rights, calls for the immediate release of Ekpar Asat — the brother of Harvard Law School alumna Rayhan Asat — from a Uyghur concentration camp.

“We join widespread calls for the United States government and the international community to demand that the Chinese government end their long-standing and systematic oppression of the Uyghur ethnic minority, and call for swift accountability for the mass atrocities continuing to be committed against this ethnic group,” said the statement.

[RELATED: American universities have accepted over $24 million from CCP since 2015]

Ekpar Asat, a tech entrepreneur, traveled to the United States from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in 2016 for the International Visitors Leadership Program, sponsored by the U.S. State Department. Weeks after returning to China, he disappeared.

Rayhan Asat learned in January 2020 that Rayhan was sentenced to 15 years in prison for “inciting ethnic hatred and ethnic discrimination.” The Harvard organizations’ statement explains that the charge is “commonly used by the Chinese government in show trials against prominent Uyghurs.”

The statement calls for the U.S. State Department to work for Ekpar Asat’s “immediate and unconditional release,” and calls on the European Union and United Nations to “ensure that they are given direct and meaningful access by the Chinese government to the Uyghur internment camps in the Xinjiang Region during any future visits.”

Student organizations associated with Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Business School, Harvard Medical School, and other departments signed the statement. The Harvard Law School Democrats and Harvard Law School Republicans each sponsored the statement.

[RELATED: Texas A&M prof, NASA researcher arrested for alleged China ties]

Campus Reform recently reported that American universities accepted more than $24 from the Chinese Communist Party since 2015.

For instance, Massachusetts Institute of Technology — which is located alongside Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts and frequently partners with Harvard on research projects — accepted a $395,000 contract from an unspecified Chinese government source, as revealed by mandatory Department of Education filings.

Brown University — Harvard’s peer in the Ivy League — accepted $1,865,190.65 from another undisclosed government source.

Campus Reform reached out to Harvard University for comment; this article will be updated accordingly.

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @BenZeisloft