Court records say convicted Uygur teacher preaches violence, separatism

The Uygur teacher convicted of separatism had urged his students to fight the Chinese government with any means and manipulated opinion polls to preach the independence of Xinjiang, according to detailed court records obtained by Xinhua on Wednesday.

The records came one day after the Intermediate People's Court of Urumqi sentenced Ilham Tohti, a former teacher with Beijing-based Minzu University of China, to life imprisonment.

PREACHING VIOLENCE

According to the records, more than 210 pieces of evidence had been presented to the court including witness testimony, confession of the defendant and video footage.

A video footage provided by prosecutors showed that Ilham Tohti called on his students to fight the Chinese government which he labeled as "a devil to the Uygur people."

"Don't think that fighting with violence is terrorist activities," he told his students in the classroom.

The records showed that witnesses said Ilham Tohti had been behind over 100 articles advocating separatism on the website of Uygur Online.

He organized the group to write, edit, translate and reprint articles seeking Xinjiang's separation from China.

"All of the important and sensitive articles were polished and approved by him," witnesses said.

According to the records, Ilham Tohti instigated others to write and reprint articles to distort the fact after a clash between terrorists and authorities in Kashgar's Bachu County, in which 15 community workers and police officers and six terrorists were killed on April 23, 2013.

"I admire these people who fight with violence against violence. They are heroes," he said in the classroom after the attack, according to a video footage.

On Oct. 28, a jeep crashed near the Tian'anmen Square in downtown Beijing, causing five deaths and 40 injuries. Police found gasoline, two knives and steel sticks as well as a flag with extremist content in the jeep. Police later identified the deadly crash as a violent terrorist attack.