Salman Rushdie joins writers' protest at China's jailing of Ilham Tohti

Letter to Guardian by authors including Paul Auster, Jennifer Egan and Siri Hustvedt urges president to release writer and scholar

As tensions continue in China's north-western area of Xinjang, writers including Paul Auster, Jennifer Egan, Siri Hustvedt and Salman Rushdie have written to the Guardian urging the Chinese president to release the Uighur writer and scholar Ilham Tohti.

Tohti, who founded the website Uighur Online in 2005 to promote dialogue in the ethnically divided region, was seized at his Beijing home by more than 30 police officers in January, disappearing for a month before being charged with "separatism" a charge which leaves him facing life imprisonment or even the death penalty if convicted.

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