Uighur academic rejects 'separatism' evidence

(MENAFN- Arab News) BEIJING: A prominent Uighur academic charged with separatism rejected evidence presented by Chinese prosecutors on Wednesday on the first day of a trial that has drawn criticism from international judicial and human rights activists.

Authorities in China's western Xinjiang region say Ilham Tohti an economics professor who championed the rights of the region's Muslim Uighur people had promoted its independence serious allegations which carry the maximum penalty of death.

Tohti's case which has attracted high-level concern in the United States and the European Union is seen as an extension of a government crackdown on dissent in Xinjiang where tension between Uighurs and majority Han Chinese has led to violence. Prosecutors 'essentially finished' presenting evidence against Tohti including testimony from his former students his lawyer Li Fangping said rejecting it as made under duress. 'Most of the students said Professor Tohti had separatist goals or intentions' Li told Reuters by telephone after the first day in court in Xinjiang's capital Urumqi.

'We believe they weren't trustworthy statements that they were made under pressure' Li said adding that Tohti refused to accept the testimony. Seven of Tohti's students who had worked on a Uighur-language website he managed were also detained after his Jan. 15 detention in Beijing. Tohti and his student were sent to Urumqi despite his lawyers' petitions to have the trial transferred to Beijing where he lived and worked.

Beijing blames a series of violent attack in Xinjiang and around the country on separatists.