HONG KONG (UCAN): Halmurat Ghopur, a leading Uyghur intellectual, has been detained by authorities in northwestern Xinjiang since November last year for displaying “nationalistic tendencies,” according to a source in exile, amid a widening crackdown on prominent members of the ethnic group.
 
Ghopur, is president of the Xinjiang Food and Drug Administration’s Department of Inspection and Supervision in the regional capital Urumqi.
 
His whereabouts remain unknown amid an investigation into his alleged acts against the state, Zumret Tursun, a Norway-based Uyghur rights advocate told Radio Free Asia.
 
Tursun recently said one of her students was present when Ghopur, who is also the former president of Xinjiang Medical University Hospital in Urumqi, was arrested.
 
“He said Halmurat Ghopur was taken from his office along with his computer,” she said.
 
According to Tursun, when state security police came to arrest Ghopur, he demanded to know why and an officer told him he had exhibited “nationalistic tendencies.”
 
“He hasn’t had a hearing yet, but it is obvious that he will be tried in court,” she added.
 
Since April last year, Uyghurs who are deemed to have extremist and politically incorrect views have been detained in political re-education camps.
 
Observers suggested that differences between Ghopur and Xinjiang Medical University secretary, Li Bing, may have led authorities to target him.
 
According to a recent article entitled, We Must Be Vigilant Against Hidden Two-Faced Officials, published by a professor from the China University of Political Science and Law, Wu Danhong, Li had actively fought the three evils of terrorism, separatism and religious extremism in Xinjiang, but Ghopur was critical of his approach.
 
The article called Ghopur a two-faced official who had failed to follow Communist Party guidelines by telling students “not fit to fill their positions” at the university hospital, in an attempt to “fulfill his murky intentions.”