{"id":3400,"date":"2014-09-23T19:16:11","date_gmt":"2014-09-23T19:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/?p=3400"},"modified":"2014-09-23T19:16:11","modified_gmt":"2014-09-23T19:16:11","slug":"chinese-court-sentences-uighur-scholar-to-life-in-separatism-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/chinese-court-sentences-uighur-scholar-to-life-in-separatism-case","title":{"rendered":"Chinese Court Sentences Uighur Scholar to Life in Separatism Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

By EDWARD WONGSEPT. 23, 2014<\/p>\n

ALTAY, China \u2014 A university professor who has become the most visible symbol of peaceful resistance by ethnic Uighurs to Chinese policies was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday after being found guilty of separatism by court officials in the western region of Xinjiang, which Uighurs consider their homeland.<\/p>\n

The punishment handed down to Ilham Tohti was the harshest that Chinese officials have imposed on a political dissident in recent years. Mr. Tohti was convicted after a two-day trial in Urumqi, the regional capital, that ended last Wednesday. He was taken by the police last January from his home in Beijing, where he teaches economics at Minzu University, and brought to Xinjiang, where he was charged with separatism.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just! It\u2019s not just!\u201d he yelled as police officers dragged him from the courtroom, his lawyer, Li Fangping, said.<\/p>\n

His wife Guzelnur, called Guzaili Nu\u2019er in Chinese, who had not seen him in eight months until the trial started last week, wailed when the verdict was announced. Three of Mr. Tohti\u2019s brothers supported her and led her back to a hotel.
\n\"24xinjiang02-master315-v2\"<\/a>Ilham Tohti at his home in Beijing in 2013. Credit Andy Wong\/Associated Press<\/p>\n

Officials in Xinjiang are grappling with a surge in violence between the mostly Muslim, Turkic-speaking Uighurs and the Han, the dominant ethnic group in China. Communist Party leaders have long said that Xinjiang is in a battle with the forces of terrorism, separatism and religious extremism, and that all steps must be taken to stamp out the insurgency.<\/p>\n

But foreign scholars, diplomats and human rights advocates denounce China\u2019s hard-line policies against the Uighurs, and say the harsh measures that China has taken against moderates like Mr. Tohti will only lead to further radicalization of Uighurs and a rise in violence, including the kind encouraged by foreign jihadist groups.
\nFor detail please visit here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By EDWARD WONGSEPT. 23, 2014 ALTAY, Chin … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,186,45],"tags":[122,1353],"views":5227,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3400"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3400"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3402,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3400\/revisions\/3402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}