BEIJING
Uighur academic Ilham Tohti is to appear in court on Wednesday charged with inciting separatism, his lawyer said.
Tohti, 45, an economics lecturer at a Beijing university, was arrested in January, sparking international calls for his release and condemnation from the U.S. and the EU.
Liu Xiaoyuan said on Sunday that the scholar will go on trial in regional capital Urumqi. Human Rights Watch said he could face the death penalty if convicted.
Tohti has been one of the Chinese government's most outspoken critics over its policy towards Muslim Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking minority who make up 45 percent of the population of the western region of Xinjiang.
Human rights groups say rights violations and discrimination against Uighurs are common and have fuelled their calls for the mineral and oil-rich region to be separated from China.
In May, the government launched an anti-terrorism campaign in Xinjiang that is due to continue into the middle of next year.
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