Posted 19 September 2014 12:02 GMT
Maya Wang posted two photos comparing the outlook of Ilham Tohti before and after the detention on Twitter.
Maya Wang posted two photos on Twitter comparing the appearance of Ilham Tohti before and after his detention.
Ilham Tohti, a prominent Uyghur scholar in China who founded a website that promoted understanding between the ethnic minority and the country’s Han Chinese majority, was put on trial for two days on charges of separatism this week.
Ilham, who is an advocate for peaceful ethnic reconciliation between the Uyghur Muslims and the Han Chinese, was arrested in January. The relationship between the two groups has been tumultuous; ethnic tensions have at times resulted in deadly clashes between Uyghur activists and authorities.
The state’s propaganda machine has claimed that Ilham was connected to the World Uyghur Congress, an overseas group that has been labelled as an extreme separatist group by the Chinese Communist Party. He is also accused of inciting his students to support separatism and spreading dissent through the the website he founded, Uyghur Online, which covered social issues from a Uyghur perspective.
Ilham has denied the accusations. During the trial, his lawyers shot down authorities’ insistence that Ilham belonged to a separatist group.
The Urumqi Intermediate People’s Court’s verdict is expected to be released next week.
Some believe his arrest and prosecution could provoke or worsen ethnic conflicts in the western Xinjiang region, where the Uyghur people mainly live. During Ilham’s eight-month detention, his family was forbidden to see him and his lawyers, Liu Xiaoyuan and Li Fangping, told the media that he was chained with leg irons and denied access to food and warm clothes.
Maya Wang, a human right activist, posted an update on the trial and tweeted two photos comparing Ilham’s current appearance with how he looked before his detention:
As the court proceedings were closed to the public, Ilham’s lawyers reported the details of the trial on Twitter and Twitter-like Sina Weibo. Most of Li Fangping’s updates were deleted by Weibo censors, but were retweeted by Tibetan writer Woser on Twitter.
Liu Xiaoyuan pointed out that the arrangement of the trial was unfair. The Xinjiang court had denied all the lawyers’ requests for summoning witnesses to the case:
Before Ilham Tohti’s trial, we had applied to the court to summon more than a dozen witnesses, but the court refused to send out the orders.
Ilham decided to speak for himself at court and Liu recorded his self-defense:
Ilham Tohti said: I support the unity of the country and oppose separatism. The idea of separating the country has never occurred to me and I have never been involved in any separatist activities. There is no separatist group. I advocate for the rule of law in Xinjiang and the implementation of ethnic autonomy with respect to the law and human rights so that all ethnic groups can enjoy the fruits of development, equal job opportunities and eliminate regional, ethnic, gender and identity discrimination.
