7 Students of Jailed Economist Are Put on Trial in Western China

The New York Times

By EDWARD WONG
NOV. 25, 2014

BEIJING — Seven students of Ilham Tohti, an imprisoned ethnic Uighur professor, went on trial on Tuesday in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang on charges of being members of a separatist group, said Li Fangping, a lawyer for Mr. Tohti.

Mr. Tohti was convicted in September of separatism and sentenced to life in prison, despite outrage from foreign officials and human rights groups who said the professor was being persecuted. The same court in the regional capital, Urumqi, put the students on trial. They had attended Minzu University of China in Beijing, where Mr. Tohti taught economics.

Mr. Tohti was an outspoken critic of Chinese policies in Xinjiang, where many ethnic Uighurs complain of harsh rule by the ethnic Han, the dominant group in China.

Of the seven indicted students, six are ethnic Uighurs and one is a member of the Yi ethnic group. Mr. Li said some had pleaded guilty in the hopes of receiving lenient prison sentences.

As of Tuesday evening, the court had not announced verdicts.

Mia Li contributed research.