Rahile Dawut
Detained Since: December 2017.
Charges: "Splittism" and “endangering state security.”
Sentence: Life imprisonment and deprivation of political rights for life.
Biography: Rahil Dawut is a world-renowned scholar of Uyghur studies, who disappeared in China in December 2017. Rahile Dawut is a professor at Xinjiang University in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and is internationally recognized as an expert in Uyghur folklore and traditions. More specifically, Professor Dawut is the founder of the Minorities Folklore Research Center at Xinjiang University, the first ever Uyghur folklore center. She has written articles that are featured in international journals and books, including her studies on Islamic sacred sites in Central Asia, and presented her work at conferences around the world.
Professor Dawut has received awards and grants from China’s Ministry of Culture. In 2008, Professor Dawut won the Zhong Jingwen Award, China’s top prize in anthropology, and in 2016, she was awarded a research grant from the Chinese government, reportedly the largest given to a Uyghur research project. She has also conducted lectures on her Uyghur studies with universities including Cambridge, Cornell, and Harvard.
In December 2017, Professor Dawut told a relative of her plans to travel from Urumqi to Beijing. Shortly thereafter, her family and friends lost contact with her. Professor Dawut’s disappearance was made public in August 2018, nearly a year after she went missing. On June 30, 2021, authorities from Xinjiang University revealed to Radio Free Asia that Professor Dawut had been sentenced and imprisoned by the Chinese government. On September 21, 2023, a source in the Chinese government confirmed to the Dui Hua Foundation that she had been sentenced to life in prison and deprivation of political rights for life on charges of "endangering state security" during a secret trial in December 2018. It was also confirmed that she had subsequently appealed the sentence, but was rejected.
State authorities have not publicly disclosed Professor Dawut’s whereabouts or details of her well-being, access to legal counsel, or any charges against her. Professor Dawut’s family, along with human rights groups, suspects that she is among a growing number of Uyghurs who are being held at so-called “re-education camps,” in prisons, or at other detention facilities. Detainees are reportedly subjected to physical and psychological abuse, including beatings, solitary confinement, and sexual harassment. They are forced to recite anthems of the Chinese Communist Party, attend indoctrination classes, and eat pork and drink alcohol in contravention of their religious beliefs. A large number of detainees is also reportedly forced to work in factories across China, where they continue to experience mistreatment.
Advocacy Partner: Scholars At Risk
Updates:
- During their statement for the "Item 4 General debate on human rights situations that require the Council’s attention" at the 55th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the European Union called for the immediate, unconditional release of Rahile Dawut, Ilham Tohti, Gulshan Abbas, Gao Zhisheng, Xu Zhiyong, Wang Yi, Ekpar Asat, Wang Bingzhang, and John Cao (who had been released on March 5, 2024) in China and Vladimir Kara-Murza in Russia, among others, as well as raised the general situation of arbitrary detainees in Belarus and Iran, and highlighted concerns over the death in custody of Alexei Navalny (March 20, 2024, Delegation of the European Union to the UN).