Jailed Uygur scholar Ilham Tohti ‘may have faced secret trial’, lawyer says
Uygur economist Ilham Tohti may have been tried and sentenced in secret, wife and lawyer say
The prolonged detention of Ilham Tohti, an outspoken Uygur economist, and six of his students has raised concerns that authorities in Xinjiang have tried them in secret and imposed a heavy jail sentence on him.
Guzaili Nuer, Tohti's wife, said her fears for her husband had grown after hearing that he may have been secretly tried and sentenced last week. Tohti was an associate professor in economics at Beijing's Minzu University of China.
"It's strange and ridiculous that none of our family, nor my husband's lawyer, have received any notification about the trial so far," she told the yesterday.
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I heard a heavy jail sentence was also given, but I don't dare believe it |
"I am extremely worried. We lost contact since he was taken away by Xinjiang police from our Beijing home in January."
Tohti, 44, who has criticised government policy in Xinjiang, was taken into custody in January after police searched his home in Beijing. He was later charged with spreading separatist ideas.
Nuer said Tohti's six students at Minzu University were also detained at the house at the same time. At least one of the six was charged with secession like Tohti.
"A mother of one of the students called me yesterday to say that none of the six families had been able to contact their children since January," she said. "All six students are from minorities, five of them Uygurs. Their parents are distraught ."
