About six years after acclaimed Uyghur folklorist Rahile Dawut first disappeared, it has been confirmed that a Chinese court sentenced her to life in prison, a human rights group announced Thursday, marking yet another Uyghur academic whose life has been caught up in Beijing’s ongoing crackdown in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.
Citing a Chinese government source, the Dui Hua Foundation in California announced Thursday that the acclaimed Uyghur scholar Dawut had been sentenced to life in prison for allegedly endangering state security.
The news was devastating for Dawut’s daughter, Akida Pulat, who for years has held onto the hope that her mom would be released soon.
"I have been worrying about my mom’s health and safety for the past several years," Pulat told VOA. "Thinking about my innocent mom staying in prison for the rest of her life makes me really furious, and I want her to get released immediately."
Dawut’s life sentence underscores the severity of Beijing’s abusive campaign in Xinjiang, which has been characterized by the detention of Uyghur intellectuals and the destruction of Uyghur culture. More than 300 Uyghur intellectuals have been detained in the region, according to the Uyghur Human Rights Project.
"Among the Uyghurs, intellectuals and scholars and professors are very highly regarded. So when you strike at them, you strike at the very heart of Uyghur culture," John Kamm, executive director of the Dui Hua Foundation, told VOA.
As many as 3 million people, mainly Uyghurs, are estimated to have been arbitrarily detained in the region.
Several countries, including the United States, have accused the Chinese government of committing genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other majority-Muslim ethnic groups in Xinjiang.
In a statement emailed to VOA, the spokesperson of China’s Washington embassy said he was "not aware of the specific case," referring to Dawut.
"What I can tell you is that China is a law-based country. China’s judicial institutions handle the cases in strict accordance with law," spokesperson Liu Pengyu said. He also denied reports of genocide in the region.
After first disappearing in 2017, Dawut was tried in 2018 for the crime of "splittism," according to the Dui Hua Foundation. Splittism, or separatism, is among the charges that the Chinese government often uses to target Uyghurs.
Dawut appealed the subsequent conviction, but her appeal was apparently rejected. It is unclear when she was sentenced to life in prison. This is the first time a reliable source in the Chinese government has confirmed the length of Dawut’s sentence, Kamm told VOA.
Pulat, who is based in Seattle, called on the Chinese government to release her mother. "Please, have some mercy and release that innocent, poor woman," she said.
A celebrated intellectual, Dawut was a professor at Xinjiang University in the region’s capital Urumqi at the time of her disappearance. Throughout her career, she published numerous books and papers on Uyghur folklore and lectured at top universities around the world.
Dawut’s colleagues are also grappling with the news.
"My mind drifts to Rahile’s warm smile, and my heart aches when I think about her reality," said Timothy Grose, a Uyghur studies professor at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana. Dawut is Grose’s longtime mentor and friend.
"It’s a tragic, cowardly abuse of power by the Community Party," Grose told VOA.
The Dui Hua Foundation is among many human rights groups calling on Beijing to immediately release Dawut.
"The sentencing of Professor Rahile Dawut to life in prison is a cruel tragedy, a great loss for the Uyghur people, and for all who treasure academic freedom," Kamm said in a statement. Still, "where there is life, there is hope," he later told VOA.
Since Dawut’s research focused on Uyghur culture and heritage, her life sentence underscores China’s "clear intention of wiping out Uyghur culture from Earth," Zubayra Shamseden, who works at the Uyghur Human Rights Project in Washington, told VOA.
Human rights lawyer Rayhan Asat agreed, saying Dawut’s life sentence is part of a clear strategy from Beijing to eliminate Uyghur culture by targeting intellectuals.
"If you look at historical examples, when the state attempts to commit genocide, they tend to go after the brightest and the finest of the society, who would preserve their culture, who would preserve the collective dignity of the people," she told VOA.
Asat’s brother, businessman Ekpar Asat, has been detained in Xinjiang since 2016. Relentless news about more and more Uyghurs being detained takes a toll on the entire community, she told VOA.
"Our trauma, our grief -- it’s all interrelated," Asat said. "We are carrying each other’s grief together."
Pulat said she hopes her mom is staying strong in prison.
"I just want to tell my mom to please stay strong and that people around the world are really caring about you right now," she said. "You didn’t do anything wrong, and you deserve to be free."
