FILE – Outspoken Uighur scholar and advocate Ilham Tohti speaks during an interview at his home in Beijing.
Victor Beattie
September 24, 2014 2:18 AM
WASHINGTON—The Obama Administration has expressed its “deep concern” over the life sentence handed down Tuesday against prominent Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti on separatism charges. Analysts warn China’s action may only further radicalize ethnic minorities.
A White House statement described Uighur scholar IlhamTohti as a respected professor who has long championed efforts to bridge differences between China’s minority Muslim Uighur community and majority Han Chinese. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry Tuesday said “peaceful dissent is not a crime,” adding “the harsh sentence appears to be retribution for Professor Tohti’s peaceful efforts to promote human rights for China’s ethnic Uighur citizens.”
The White House statement called for Tohti’s release and that of seven students, who were also arrested in January, “and a guarantee of their protection and freedom to which they are entitled under China’s international human rights commitments and its own constitution.” It said China should “differentiate between peaceful dissent and violent extremism.”
Michael Clarke of Australia’s Griffith Asia Institute said such expressions of international concern may have the opposite effect of what is intended.