China - Xinjiang: PEN International condemns life sentence handed down to Rahile Dawut
PEN International is appalled by the news that Uyghur academic Professor Rahile Dawut has been sentenced to life in prison.
22/09/2023: Reports suggest that Dawut, an internationally acclaimed academic, anthropologist, and leading expert on Uyghur folklore and cultural traditions, was convicted in 2018.
She is now understood to have lost an appeal in the High People’s Court of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, which upheld a sentence of life-imprisonment on charges of endangering state security by promoting ‘splittism’.
In late 2017, Professor Dawut was due to travel from Xinjiang to Beijing for an academic conference, but never reached her destination. It was widely believed that she had been subjected to enforced disappearance by authorities of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Despite international condemnation of her disappearance and a campaign calling for her release, more than three years passed before her former co-workers were able to confirm that the Chinese authorities had sentenced and imprisoned her. In July 2021, investigative reporting by Radio Free Asia’s Uyghur Service finally confirmed that she had been imprisoned and sentenced by the Chinese authorities, according to sources within Xinjiang University. Nevertheless, the PRC government has continually failed to publicly disclose Dawut’s whereabouts or details of the charges brought against her.
As the sixth anniversary of her disappearance approaches, PEN is distressed by the reports that Dawut faces life imprisonment. PEN continues to call for her immediate and unconditional release, and the release of hundreds of other Uyghur writers, journalists and intellectuals detained in violation of their right to freedom of expression.
Background:
Rahile Dawut is a renowned anthropologist and leading expert on the study of Uyghur folklore.
An associate professor at Xinjiang University and founder of the university’s research centre on minority folklore, Dawut is recognised around the world for her peerless contributions to the study and cataloguing of Uyghur cultural heritage.
Her work was also recognised and supported by the PRC government. In 2016, just a year before she was initially detained, Dawut received a research grant from the Ministry of Culture, reportedly the largest ever given to a Uyghur research project.
Dawut’s unjust imprisonment is emblematic of the PRC government’s systematic efforts to dislocate the Uyghur population from their cultural identity and heritage through overwhelming levels of censorship and repression.
Since the establishment of Xinjiang’s expansive network of re-education camps in 2017, over a million Uyghurs and other minorities have been incarcerated in various forms of detention across the region. Detainees include hundreds of writers, poets, translators, scholars and public intellectuals, who together represent the living embodiment of Uyghur culture.
PEN has actively campaigned for Rahile Dawut’s release since news of her detention was made public. Dawut’s case was featured during PEN International’s 2021 Day of the Imprisoned Writer campaign, which included an open letter of solidarity from Philippe Sands. Earlier this week, PEN International’s Women Writers Committee recognised Rahile’s remarkable contribution to Uyghur cultural heritage with an Empty Chair. Rahile Dawut is currently featured in English PEN’s PENWrites campaign, where you can send letters of solidarity and support to Dawut’s family.
For further information please contact Ross Holder, Head of the Asia/ Pacific Region at PEN International, email: ross.holder@pen-international.org