URUMQI, Nov. 21-- A court in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Friday has upheld the life sentence handed down to teacher Ilham Tohti for separatism in September.

Tohti, a former teacher at Beijing's Minzu University of China, was sentenced to life in imprisonment, deprived of his political rights for life and had all his personal property confiscated by the Intermediate People's Court of Urumqi on Sep. 23.

Tohti appealed the ruling and the Higher People's Court of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region upheld the verdict on Friday.