China Sentences Uighur Scholar’s Tohti Students to Up to 8 Years

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By Joshua Fellman Dec 8, 2014 3:12 PM ET

China sentenced seven students of incarcerated scholar Ilham Tohti, a member of the country’s Uighur minority, to three to eight years in prison for separatism, Hong Kong government broadcaster RTHK said.

The verdicts followed a trial held last month, RTHK said on its website, citing Tohti’s lawyer, Li Fanging. The government had accused Tohti and his students of forming a criminal gang that sought to split northwestern China’s Xinjiang region from the rest of the country. The students had helped Tohti run a website on Uighur issues.

Tohti, an economics professor, was sentenced to life in prison in September after he was convicted of promoting separatism in Xinjiang in a verdict that underlines China’s intolerance toward criticism of its ethnic policies. The court also ordered the seizure of all of Tohti’s assets. The sentence was upheld on appeal last month.

President Xi Jinping is overseeing a nationwide crackdown against alleged Uighur terrorists, which has included several shootouts, mass arrests and a stadium trial at which people were sentenced to death. Human rights activists charge that Tohti’s trial was rife with abuses and violated Chinese and international standards.

 
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