For Uyghur torchbearer, China’s Olympic flame has gone dark

By HUIZHONG WU
Associated Press

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — At the age of 17, Kamaltürk Yalqun was chosen to help carry the Olympic flame ahead of the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing. The following decade saw Beijing impose policies on his home region of Xinjiang that split apart his family and his Uyghur community. Today, he is an activist in the United States calling for a boycott of the 2022 Winter Games, which has seen the Olympic flame returned to China. Set to open on Friday in Beijing, the Winter Games are attracting global controversy as they spotlight the host country’s treatment of the Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities.