EU Gives Sakharov Prize To Jailed Uighur Ilham Tohti

The European Parliament has awarded the Sakharov Prize for human rights to Uighur activist Ilham Tohti, who is serving life in prison in China for "separatism".

The outspoken former professor of economics at a Beijing university was sentenced in 2014 in a trial that provoked an outcry from foreign governments and human rights organisations.

Before his arrest, Tohti founded and ran the UighurOnline website, which wrote about social issues in Uighur and Chinese. Despite being known as a moderate who argued against Uighur separatism, he was convicted of fanning ethnic hatred, advocating violence and instigating terror through his classroom teaching and website.

His trial was widely criticised. He was denied access to his lawyers - who in turn said they were not allowed to see the state's alleged evidence against him.

Announcing the award, European Parliament head David Sassoli urged Beijing to immediately release Tohti. "Despite being a voice of moderation and reconciliation, he was sentenced to life in prison following a show trial in 2014," Sassoli told the parliament.

"By awarding this prize, we strongly urge the Chinese government to release Tohti and we call for the respect of minority rights in China."

The UN says more than one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic minorities have been rounded up in internment camps in Xinjiang.

Authorities in the northwestern region have also rolled out an extensive surveillance system combining methods including high-tech facial recognition cameras, wifi sniffers and home visits, according to Human Rights Watch.

The EU award, created in 1988, is named after the Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, who designed Russia's hydrogen bomb before becoming a campaigner for peace and human rights. (AFP, AP)