Chinese authorities have blocked Ilham Tohti, a leading scholar from China’s Turkic Uighur ethnic minority, from leaving the country to start a fellowship at Indiana University at Bloomington, the Associated Press reported. Tohti said he was questioned for hours at the airport before being sent home. Tohti has spoken out about the treatment of Chinese minority groups, and been criticized for doing so by Chinese authorities. A spokesman for Indiana told Inside HIgher Ed that Tohti was scheduled to start as a visiting scholar in Central Eurasian studies at the university.