China jails students for Uighur ‘separatism’

Seven students of jailed Uighur scholar sentenced to up to eight years in prison in Xinjiang region, rights lawyers say.

Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti lost his appeal against a life sentence for separatism last month [AP]

Seven students of jailed Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti have been sentenced to up to eight years in prison on charges of separatism in China’s western Xinjiang region, two rights lawyers have said.

The verdict comes a day after at least eight people were given the death sentence for allegedly carrying out two deadly attacks in restive Xinjiang region.

Li Fangping, the lawyer who defended Tohti, said he was told by the students’ lawyer on Monday that they had been sentenced by the intermediate court in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi. Prosecutors had charged the students with “separatism”, Li said.

“Yesterday, we received information of [sentences] between three and eight years,” Li told Reuters news agency by telephone. “It’s unclear what condition they are in. It is also unclear if they will appeal.”

Liu Xiaoyuan, another lawyer who defended Tohti, confirmed the sentences, while a court official contacted about the case declined to comment.

In severe cases, charges of separatism in China are punishable by death.

Tohti, China’s most prominent advocate for the rights of Muslim Uighurs, lost his appeal against a life sentence for separatism last month.

Uighurs’ rights

Prosecutors said the Uighur scholar had “bewitched and coerced young ethnic students” on a website he ran called Uighurbiz.net. The economics professor said he never associated with any terrorist organisation and “relied only on pen and paper” to advocate for Uighurs’ rights.

During his trial, he rejected the prosecution’s evidence and said statements against him by student volunteers who had worked on a website he managed were made under pressure.

China has blamed a series of violent attacks in which hundreds of people have been killed in recent years on Muslim rebels from Xinjiang who it says want to establish an independent state there called East Turkestan.

China has made no mention of the cases and has not provided the names of the students, many of whom had been detained since January. However, rights groups have identified the students.

The Global Times, a tabloid run by the party’s official People’s Daily, said six of the students, Perhat Halmurat, Shohret Nijat, Mutellip Imin, Abduqeyyum Ablimit, Atikem Rozi and Akbar Imin, are Uighur. The seventh student, Luo Yuwei, is from the Yi ethnic minority, the paper said.

The United States has called for the release of Tohti and his students.

Source: Reuters