Media Profile & Archive — Ekpar Asat (艾克拜尔·艾赛提). This archive preserves the source basis, identification method, verification status of each cited item, and evidentiary limits behind the Person Profile. It supports Ekpar Asat (艾克拜尔·艾赛提).
Person profile
Ekpar Asat (艾克拜尔·艾赛提) — Uyghur entrepreneur, founder of the Bagdax Uyghur-language social media platform; disappeared April 2016 after attending a US State Department leadership program; sentenced to 15 years in a secret trial on charges reported as “inciting ethnic hatred” / “inciting ethnic hatred and ethnic discrimination”; sentence confirmed to the family via Chinese Embassy communication to a US senator in January 2020.
Identification method
The Issue 131 roster’s English edition lists “Yikepa·Asate (also translated as: Aikebai’er·Aisaiti) (Uyghur)” in the “Sentenced to 15 years, 15 people” group; its Chinese edition lists 伊克帕·阿萨特（又译：艾克拜尔·艾塞提）（维吾尔族） in the matching position. Independent sources — Amnesty International and the US Commission on International Religious Freedom — document a Uyghur entrepreneur named Ekpar Asat (艾克拜尔·艾赛提) sentenced to 15 years. The roster’s own alternate translation, the 15-year sentence, and the Uyghur ethnicity align across the roster and the independent sources, resolving the identity. The 塞/赛 character variance between the roster’s alternate translation and the Amnesty/USCIRF form is a transliteration variance, not a separate person. Do not merge with any other Asat/Aisaiti namesake, and do not merge with the roster-adjacent entry Yiminjiang Lahemitula (a different person).
Source chronology
- April 2016 — Ekpar Asat goes missing in Urumqi, weeks after returning from the US State Department International Visitor Leadership Program. (Amnesty; USCIRF lists April 2016 as date of detainment.)
- December 2019 — Bipartisan letter from seven US senators to the Chinese Embassy in Washington urges China to release Ekpar Asat.
- January 2020 — The Chinese Embassy in Washington informs Senator Chris Coons that Ekpar Asat was sentenced to 15 years in prison. This is the first confirmation the family receives of the sentence.
- May 13, 2020 — Amnesty International issues Urgent Action ASA 17/2314/2020: “Uyghur jailed for 15 years in secret trial.” Reports conviction on “inciting ethnic hatred and ethnic discrimination,” secret trial, no access to a lawyer of choice, no family contact for over four years.
- May 2020 — RFA’s Uyghur Service reports the case in depth: Bagdax background, IVLP participation, the embassy acknowledgment, sister’s statements, and a State Department spokesperson statement that the case was raised directly with Beijing.
- April 2021 — Reporting notes the family learned of the 15-year sentence in January 2020 and that prison officials told the parents Ekpar had been in solitary confinement since January 2019.
- September 2024 — A friend’s first-person account recounts the Bagdax platform’s history, the 2016 detention, and the sister’s statement that he is serving his term in Aksu.
- August 31, 2026 — Rights Defense Network, Issue 131 monthly report: lists “Yikepa·Asate (also translated as: Aikebai’er·Aisaiti) (Uyghur)” in the “Sentenced to 15 years, 15 people” group of its in-custody roster.
Source grading
- Amnesty International Urgent Action (ASA 17/2314/2020) — strongest single source for the sentence, charges, secret trial, and detention timeline; advocacy source, clearly attributed.
- USCIRF religious-prisoners database — official US government database; confirms identity variants (incl. Chinese characters), 15-year sentence, April 2016 detention, “Not Released” status; notes reported health deterioration.
- RFA Uyghur Service reporting (May 2020) — established independent media; primary reporting on the embassy acknowledgment, IVLP background, sister and State Department statements.
- Friend’s first-person account (2024) — valuable on Bagdax history and the 2016 detention; personal account, not independently verified for every detail; sister-attributed claims kept attributed.
- Issue 131 roster — the identity-resolution anchor linking the roster transliteration to the documented person; not an independent case source.
Conflicts and caveats
- The sister’s name is romanized Reyhan (RFA) and Rayhan (Amnesty campaign material). Both forms are recorded; no resolution — do not treat as two people.
- The exact date and court of the trial are not public. Only the communicated sentence (15 years) and the January 2020 embassy acknowledgment are documented.
- Health deterioration and solitary confinement since January 2019 are reported — attributed, not independently verified.
- No PRC state-media narrative on Asat was found; the only official Chinese-government communication on record is the embassy’s January 2020 acknowledgment to Senator Coons.
Evidentiary limits
No court judgment, indictment, or official trial record for Ekpar Asat has been made public. The charges are reported by Amnesty and RFA as communicated/acknowledged, not as independently verified findings. His current whereabouts, condition, and exact custody facility are not independently confirmed; the State Department said in May 2020 it had been unable to verify his whereabouts, and no newer independent confirmation was located.