Chinese prosecutors formally charged Ilham Tohti, a moderate Uighur rights advocate, with “separatism,” a charge that carries the death penalty. Tohti has remained in secretive detention in remote Xinjiang Province since January.

Chinese authorities detained Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti for “breaking the law.” Many regard Tohti, an economics professor at Beijing’s Minzu University, as the country’s most high-profile Uighur academic. Tohti’s arrest is part of Chairman Xi Jinping’s recent broader crackdown in China’s restive Xinjiang province. State media has characterized this repressive campaign as a “strategy shift” from development to maintaining stability.