Chinese courts crack down on journalist

Gao Yu and Muslim professor Ilham Tohti

Pol
ice patrol near the Beijing No. 3 Intermediate People's Court where the trial of journalist
Gao Yu on charges of leaking state secrets takes place in Beijing on November 21,
2014. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images)

By William Wan November 21

BEIJING In a double-barreled attack on freedom of expression, Chinese

authorities put a prominent journalist on trial Friday and denied the appeal of
Uighur professor Ilham Tohti, a leading moderate Muslim voice.
Behind closed doors in Beijing, longtime journalist Gao Yu, 70, was tried on
charges of leaking state secrets.

Meanwhile, across the country in the restive region of Xinjiang, a hearing for Tohti
was convened in a detention center on such short notice that his lawyer didnt get a
chance to attend, and his appeal was ultimately rejected.
The two actions were the latest efforts in a government crackdown on dissenting
voices. In the past year, numerous human rights activists have been arrested,
including Chinese lawyer Xu Zhiyong, who was sentenced Sunday to four years in
prison for disturbing public order.
The case against Gao, an outspoken intellectual, began in April when she
disappeared. The next month, state-run media confirmed that she had been
arrested for allegedly leaking state secrets to overseas news media. According to
Xinhua News Agency, Gao offered a secret document to a Web site in another
country, and the document triggered wide attention from the public.
Although the document was never publicly identified, many believe it was an order
issued after President Xi Jinping took power. Known asDocument No. 9, it urges
draconian responses against dangers such asmedia independence, democracy, civil
society and other Western values.
After Gaos arrest, state-run television aired footage of her confessing to the crime,
but her attorney, Mo Shaoping, said she has retracted the confession, saying it was
made in response to threats against her son. Gaos son, Zhao Meng, was taken
away by police officers on the same day as Gao and released May 23.
After Fridays trial, Mo said that he and another lawyer, Shang Baojun, presented
their legal argument and that Gao spoke as well.
Its hard to make any predictions on the verdict, but we made a not-guilty plea,

Mo said. We argued the evidence provided by the prosecutor was not reliable.

According to Article 111 of Chinese criminal law, people who give state secrets to
overseas organizations can receive sentences of 5 to 10 years. More serious cases
can earn more than 10 years.
Tohtis case, like Gaos, has drawn sharp criticism from international human rights
groups and foreign diplomats. He received a life sentence in September on charges
of separatism.
His prosecution comes amid a Chinese government campaign against separatism
and terrorism focused on Uighurs, a Muslim ethnic group in Western China.
Tohti, an economics professor at a Beijing university, is known for speaking out for
the rights of Uighurs. He was taken from his Beijing home in January by authorities
on accusations of supporting secession in Xinjiang.
Uighurs in Xinjiang have long complained of discrimination and repression at the
hands of the Chinese Communist Party and the countrys Han majority. In the past
year, that resentment has manifested itself in a series of terrorist attacks apparently
inspired by a violent interpretation of Islam.
In a phone interview, one of Tohtis lawyers, Li Fangping, said that only Tohtis
brother and sister-in-law were able to attend the sudden hearing at a detention
house. Li said Tohtis brother informed him that the trial lasted about 50 minutes,
and Tohti said the verdict was unjust.
Li said Tohti has asked to be transferred to a prison in Beijing because his wife and
two young children are there.
In a phone interview, Tohtis wife, Guzelnur, said she hasnt talked with him since
his detention.

Another of Tohtis lawyers posted a note handwritten by Tohti on Chinese social

media.
I think the facts of my case are not clear ... the facts can only be

further ascertained by an open trial, it read.

Liu Liu contributed to this report.

William Wan is The Posts China correspondent based in

Beijing. He served previously as a religion reporter and diplomatic correspondent.
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