Court upholds life sentence for Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti

Renowned Uighur scholar and former university professor Ilham Tohti’s appeal of a life sentence for the crime of separatism (“splitting the Motherland”) has been unsuccessful. The verdict was issued in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region’s detention center.

Attorney Liu Xiaoyuan and his client had feared the court would affirm the original sentence, Liu said.

He said, “When they hold the second trial in a closed court, the conclusion is almost certainly to uphold the original verdict.”

Attorney Li Fangping said that the seven students who are being charged along with Ilham have not yet begun to be tried.
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