China Announces 'Crimes' Against Detained Scholar

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities have announced a list of political offenses against minority Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti, who has been detained since last week.

The Bureau of Public Security for Urumqi, the capital of the restive western region of Xinjiang, says Ilham Tohti recruited followers through a website he founded to cause trouble, spread separatist thoughts, incite ethnic hatred and engaged in separatist activities.

In an online statement Saturday, the bureau says the scholar told his students that Uighurs should use violence and oppose the government as China opposed Japanese invaders during the World War II.

Ilham Tohti has not been formally charged, but prosecution is all but guaranteed as China tightens control over the region where a series of clashes between native Muslim Uighurs and police have killed dozens of people.