Academic dissident jailed for life

Ilham Tohti. Photo / AP

A Chinese university professor who spoke out against the Communist Party's policies in the western region of Xinjiang has become the first dissident in almost a decade to be sentenced to life in prison.

Professor Ilham Tohti, 44, taught economics at Beijing's Ethnic Minorities university and ran a website, Uighurbiz, that he said was a platform for dialogue and debate between Han Chinese and ethnic Uighurs living in Xinjiang.

But in a 66-page verdict, a court in Urumqi found him guilty of "separatism", saying he had used his classes and website to advance an independence movement for Xinjiang and to "incite ethnic hatred" between the two groups.

The authorities also confiscated Ilham's assets, freezing his life savings of 800,000 yuan ($162,000) , and leaving his wife, Guzailai Nu'er, and two young sons destitute.

"His wife wailed out at the verdict," said Li Fangping, one of his two lawyers. "Ilham looked okay but at the end he shouted out, 'I refuse to accept this' and was dragged away by the police."

Prosecutors had called for Ilham to be treated harshly because he refused to confess and was "a very important figure", according to his other lawyer, Liu Xiaoyuan.

The verdict dismayed the tiny community of human rights activists in China who remain free, with the writer Wang Lixiong saying that the Government had created "a Chinese Mandela".

In the past two years, violence in Xinjiang has risen and hundreds if not thousands of people died over the summer in battles between alleged terrorists and security forces.