China Uighur Scholar Given Life Term for University Lectures

A respected Uighur Chinese scholar was given the life term for making certain remarks in his university lectures about the ethnic conflicts in the Muslim-dominated Xinjiang region in west China, reports the state news agency Xinhua.

Ilham Tohti, 44, was charged of "separatism" by a court, Tuesday.  Recordings of Tohti's lectures were brought in as evidence where he said that Xinjiang "firstly belonged to the Uighur ethnic group" rather than China's Han majority, reports the Channel News Asia citing Xinhua.

State prosecutors accused him of questioning the government's account of a violent incident in Xinjiang last year, which incited his students to join "separatist groups".

In his defense, Tohti said that China's constitution guarantees citizens freedom of speech, but prosecutors upheld, "Chinese citizens must not damage the interests of the state while executing their freedom," reports the Agence France Press.

Tohti's lawyer Li Fangping claimed that certain remarks attributed to his client were inaccurate and that the media had published evidence without giving Tohti a chance to appeal the verdict.

"We were not given access to this evidence before the trial because we were told it was too sensitive. Now before the verdict is even effective, this evidence is released by the media, in the name of state media," he said.

The Chinese authorities maintain that the proceedings had gone according to the law and he had violated the law. His being from a minority ethnic community cannot come in the way of punishment.

"He has violated China's law, therefore he was punished," Luo Liming, deputy director of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission said, according to China National Radio. "It is not an issue of safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of minorities or not."

Xinjiang has been facing ethnic and civil unrest wanting independence from China. Locals are protesting repression by the ruling government and discrimination based on language and customs.

Tohti's arrest and sentencing has raised protests from rights groups, as well as the US and European Union.

President Barack Obama said that his country "stood in solidarity" with a number of detained activists, like Tohti  and the  imprisoned Chinese Nobel Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, reports AFP.