Uygur scholar Ilham Tohti to go on trial for separatism this week, says lawyer

An outspoken Chinese minority Uygur scholar accused of separatism will go on trial Wednesday in the country’s northwest, one of his lawyers said.

Tohti will be tried by a court in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi, said Liu Xiaoyuan, his lawyer and a Chinese human rights specialist.

Tohti, formerly an economics professor at Beijing University, was arrested earlier this year in Beijing amid rising tensions in the northwestern region of Xinjiang between Muslim Uygurs and majority Han people.

He has been a vocal critic of the government’s policies towards the Uygurs, who are concentrated in the restive western Xinjiang region.

Tohti is accused of activities aimed at overthrowing Chinese rule in Xinjiang – charges he denies. While a professor at Beijing University, he spoke openly about problems with China’s ethnic policies.

Authorities have blamed the deadly conflicts in Xinjiang on terrorists seeking a separate state, and have accused Tohti of fanning ethnic hatred and advocating independence.

Prosecutors in the Xinjiang region last month announced they were charging Tohti with separatism following his detention earlier this year, sparking renewed international calls for his release.