A prominent Chinese academic from the mostly Muslim Uighur ethnic group was jailed for life because of remarks he made in a university class about the restive Xinjiang region, state-media reported yesterday.
Ilham Tohti, a former professor, was handed the sentence on a charge of “separatism” by a court in the vast western region on Tuesday, provoking an outcry from rights groups, as well as the US and EU.
The case against Tohti was in part based on recordings of university lectures in which he said that Xinjiang “firstly belonged to the Uighur ethnic group,” rather than China’s Han majority, Xinhua news agency reported.
State prosecutors said that the speech, along with other remarks in which Tohti questioned the Beijing government’s account of a violent incident in Xinjiang last year, had encouraged others to join “separatist groups.”
Tohti argued that China’s constitution guarantees citizens freedom of speech, but prosecutors said: “Chinese citizens must not damage the interests of the state while executing their freedom,” Xinhua reported.
Foreign media were not allowed access to the court for Tohti’s trial last week and police kept the area sealed off.
Tohti’s lawyer, Li Fangping (李方平) said that several remarks quoted by Xinhua were inaccurate, and that he has lodged a complaint on the grounds that publishing evidence before Tohti has had a chance to appeal is illegal.
“We were not given access to this evidence before the trial because we were told it was too sensitive. Now, before the verdict is even effective, this evidence is released by the media, in the name of state media,” he said.
“Publishing this inaccurate account, I suspect, is intended to influence the public’s opinion of Ilham,” he added.
Xinjiang is home to about 10 million Uighurs, and in the past year has been hit by a string of attacks on civilians and clashes that have killed at least 200 people.
Xinhua said that Tohti praised locals who attacked police in Xinjiang’s Bachu County last year — a clash which left at least 21 dead — in class at Beijing’s Minzu University.
Li said that Tohti had not praised the attackers, but cited a report that locals had resisted after government officials forcibly entered homes to confiscate veils from local Muslims.
“He said that if it was my own wife having her veil removed, I would resist as well,” Li said, adding that Tohti’s appeal document would likely be submitted yesterday.
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