BEIJING — In a double-barreled attack on freedom of expression, Chinese authorities Friday put a prominent journalist on trial 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, the hearing for Tohti was convened in a detention center on such short notice that his lawyer didn’t even get a chance to attend, and his appeal was ultimately rejected.
The two actions were just the latest in a government crackdown on dissenting voices. In the past year, numerous human rights activists have been arrested, including Chinese lawyer and activist Xu Zhiyong, who was sentenced to four years in prison Sunday for disturbing public order.
The case against Gao, an outspoken intellectual, began in April when she suddenly disappeared. The next month, state-run media confirmed she had been arrested for allegedly leaking state secrets to overseas media.
According to Xinhua news agency, Gao offered a secret document to an overseas website, and the document triggered wide attention from the public.
While the document was never publicly identified, many believe it refers to an order issued after President Xi Jinping took power called Document No. 9 — which pushes for Draconian responses against dangers such as media independence, democracy, civil society, and other Western values.
After Gao’s arrest, state-run television aired footage of her confessing to the crime, but her lawyer said she has retracted the confession, saying it was made in response to authorities’ threats toward her son. Gao’s son, Zhao Meng, was taken away by the police on the same day as Gao and released May 23.
After Friday’s trial, Gao’s lawyer, Mo Shaoping, said he and another lawyer, Shang Baojun, presented their legal argument, and Gao spoke as well.
‘‘It’s 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 Chinese criminal article 111, people providing state secrets for overseas organizations can receive sentences of five to 10 years. More serious cases can earn more than 10 years.
Like Gao’s, Tohti’s case has also drawn sharp criticism from international human rights groups and foreign diplomats. He received a life sentence on charges of separatism in September.
His prosecution comes amid a new war on terror waged by the Chinese government against 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 Uighur ethnic minorities. He was taken from his Beijing home in January by authorities on accusations of supporting secession in China’s tumultuous Xinjiang region.
In a phone interview, one of Tohti’s lawyers, Li Fangping, said only Tohti’s brother and sister-in-law were able to attend the sudden hearing at a detention house. Li said Tohti’s brother informed him the trial lasted about 50 minutes, and Tohti said the verdict was unjust.
Li said Tohti has requested to be transferred to a prison in Beijing because his wife and two little children remain there.
In a phone interview, Tohti’s wife, Guzelnur, said she hasn’t talked with him since his detention.
Another of Tohti’s 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.