An outspoken and respected Chinese journalist accused of leaking state secrets to foreign contacts faces a life prison sentence. There was a heavy police presence around the court in Beijing as the trial of 70-year-old Gao Yu got underway on Friday.<br /><br />Footage of Gao confessing to a crime and expressing remorse was aired on Chinese television.<br /><br />Her lawyer said she told judges at a pre-trial hearing that she was forced to confess when threats were made against her son.<br /><br />Meanwhile in the northwest of China, Ilham Tohti, an economics professor given life imprisonment for “separatism”, has lost an appeal against his sentence.<br /><br />Tohti campaigned for better rights for China’s Uighur minority. <br /><br />His case has been condemned by the US, the European Union and human rights groups.<br /><br />Experts say it is one of the toughest penalties in more than a decade for an outspoken critic of the state.
