On Tuesday, Chinese Uyghur scholar, Ilham Tohti, was sentenced to life in prison after a court in Urumqi\u2014the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region\u2014found him guilty of the crime of inciting separatism. <\/p>\n
By Kimberly Carlson
September 25, 2014<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Chinese Uyghur scholar, Ilham Tohti, was sentenced<\/a> to life in prison after a court in Urumqi\u2014the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region\u2014found him guilty of the crime of inciting separatism. This is one of the severest sentences given to a political dissenter in communist China that has been seen in recent years.<\/p>\n Mr. Tohti is an economics professor and co-founder of Uyghur Online<\/em>, a website dedicated to examining the relationship between the Han Chinese\u2014the dominant ethnic group in China\u2014and the Uyghurs<\/a>\u2014a traditionally Muslim people living primarily in the Xinjiang region of Northwest China. Since the website\u2019s 2006 inception, Tohti has been a target of Chinese authorities, who consider Tohti\u2019s Uyghur advocacy efforts outspoken and radical. <\/p>\n Tohti has been critical of Chinese government policies in Xinjiang, but has also attempted to peacefully bring understanding of the Uyghurs to the Han Chinese. PEN International<\/a> has been campaigning for Tohti since July 2009 when he was detained for speaking out about ethnic rioting that occurred in Urumqi in July 2009<\/a>. After being held and interrogated, he was released over a month later in late August 2009. After his arrest, Chinese authorities prevented Tohti from leaving the country by detaining him at airports and frequently placing him under house arrest. <\/p>\n Tohti\u2019s recent trial<\/a> concluded after only two days; when the final verdict was decided, Tohti was heard proclaiming \u201cIt\u2019s not just! It\u2019s not just!.\u201d The Uyghur American Association<\/a> released a statement on Tuesday saying it believes \u201cthe sentencing is intended to silence peaceful Uyghur dissenters to Chinese state repression and confirms the government\u2019s disregard for meaningful Uyghur participation in solving regional tensions.\u201d<\/p>\n