Chinese Critic Goes On Trial For 'Separatism'

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent in Beijing

A Chinese economist and university lecturer has gone on trial in western China, charged with separatism.

Ilham Tohti, who is China's most prominent Uighur Muslim scholar, was detained in Beijing in January.

He appeared at a closed hearing at the Intermediate People's Court in Urumqi, the capital of China's far western Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.

As a member of China's minority Uighur Muslim population, he was a vocal but moderate critic of the Chinese government's policies in Xinjiang.

"Tohti has consistently, courageously and unambiguously advocated peacefully for greater understanding and dialogue between various communities and with the state," said Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch.

He was arrested on January 15 in Beijing and transferred to a jail 2,000 miles to the west in Urumqi.

He was denied access to lawyers for the first five months of his detention.

Police raided his home and seized computers, telephones and his students' theses.

At the time, his wife, Guzaili Nu'er, described how 30 police officers raided the family apartment and searched it for six hours.

Mr Tohti was a professor at Beijing's Minzu University.

He founded a website focusing on Uighur issues, called UighurOnline.

It is understood that seven of his students and volunteers at UighurOnline were detained alongside him.

In Communist China, separatism is the most serious of crimes.

The authorities have not provided evidence for Mr Tohti's alleged crimes but according to his lawyers, the charge sheet accuses him of being the leader of an eight member separatist organisation.

Prosecutors accuse him of using UighurOnline to encourage violence, ethnic hatred and Uighur independence.

"If this is Beijing's definition of 'separatist' activities, it's hard to see tensions in Xinjiang and between the communities decreasing," Ms Richardson said.

In January 2011 Mr Tohti wrote an online essay. The lengthy article outlined his motivation.

"Uighur Online is managed to prevent any pro-independence, separatist, or irresponsible inflammatory postings, and it does not post subversive materials.

"However, it does not forbid posts that expose social ills in Xinjiang or elsewhere, so long as they show good intentions and the content is authentic." he wrote.

Nearly half of Xinjiang's 22 million people are Uighur Muslims.

The province is China's largest and borders Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Many of the indigenous Uighurs claim they are persecuted by Han Chinese migrants from the rest of China.

They say their religious, cultural and economic freedoms are being eroded by the influx of Han Chinese.

The Chinese government says the Han Chinese are being threatened by a growing movement of Islamist extremism among the Uighur, a narrative strengthened in October when a jeep, said to have been driven by Uighurs, ploughed into a group of tourists in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Earlier this month, Sky News spent a week travelling in Xinjiang. We found no evidence of extremism but considerable resentment among the local population and anger at new policies banning beards, veils and in some cases, a ban on fasting during Ramadan.

If convicted of separatism, Mr Tohti faces at least 10 years to life in prison.

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