BY SUI-LEE WEE
BEIJING Wed Sep 24, 2014 5:19am EDT
Uighur academic Ilham Tohti sits during his trial on separatism charges in Urumqi, Xinjiang region, in this still image taken from video shot on September 17-18, 2014.
CREDIT: REUTERS/CCTV VIA REUTERS TV
(Reuters) – China’s most prominent advocate for the rights of Muslim Uighur people will appeal against a life prison sentence that drew criticism from Western countries including the United States, his lawyer said on Wednesday.
A court in the western region of Xinjiang sentenced economics professor Ilham Tohti, 44, on separatism charges on Tuesday. The United States, the European Union and international rights groups condemned the sentence.
Tohti, who is an ethnic Uighur, is the latest moderate intellectual to be convicted by Chinese President Xi Jinping’s administration.
The government has blamed a series of violent attacks in which hundreds of people have been killed on Islamist militants from Xinjiang who it says want to establish an independent state there called East Turkestan.