BEIJING (AP) 鈥 A prominent Uyghur scholar specializing in the study of her people鈥檚 folklore and traditions has been sentenced to life in prison, according to a U.S.-based foundation that works on human rights cases in China.
Rahile Dawut was convicted on charges of endangering state security in December 2018 in a secret trial, the San Francisco-based Dui Hua Foundation said in a statement Thursday. Dawut appealed but her conviction was upheld, the foundation said.
鈥淭he 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,鈥 John Kamm, executive director of the Dui Hua Foundation, said in a statement.
Dawut was a professor at Xinjiang University and founder of the school's Ethnic Minorities Folklore Research Center. She disappeared in late 2017 amid a a Turkic, predominately Muslim ethnicity native to China鈥檚 northwest
For years, her exact status was unknown, as Chinese authorities didn鈥檛 disclose her whereabouts or the nature of the charges against her. That changed this month when the Dui Hua Foundation saw a Chinese government document disclosing that Dawut was sentenced to life in prison.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning said she had 鈥渘o information鈥 on Dawut鈥檚 case at a regular press briefing Friday, but added that China would 鈥渉andle cases in accordance with the law.鈥
Dawut was internationally renowned for her work studying sacred Islamic sites and Uyghur cultural practices in Xinjiang and across Central Asia, authoring many articles and books and lecturing as a visiting scholar abroad, including at Cambridge and the University of Pennsylvania.
She is one of over 400 prominent academics, writers, performers and artists advocacy groups say. Critics say the as a way to dilute, or even erase, Uyghur culture, language and identity.
鈥淢ost prominent Uyghur intellectuals have been arrested. They鈥檝e been indiscriminate,鈥 said Joshua Freeman, an Academia Sinica researcher who used to work as a translator for Dawut. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it is anything about her work that got her in trouble. I think what got her in trouble was that she was born a Uyghur.鈥
News of her life sentence shocked Freeman and other academics in Uyghur studies, as Dawut didn't engage in activities opposing the Chinese government. Dawut was a member of the Chinese Communist Party and received grants and awards from the Chinese Ministry of Culture before her arrest.
Dawut鈥檚 daughter, Akeda Pulati, said she was stunned by the news and called on the Chinese authorities to release her mother.
鈥淚 know the Chinese government is torturing and persecuting the Uyghurs. But I didn鈥檛 expect them to be that cruel, to give my innocent mother a life sentence,鈥 Pulati said. 鈥淭heir cruelty is beyond my imagination.鈥
Pulati called Dawut 鈥渢he hardest working person I鈥檝e ever met,鈥 saying that since she was a child, she had been inspired by her mother鈥檚 dedication to her career.
鈥淪he鈥檚 a very simple person 鈥 all she wants in her life is just to find enjoyment in her work and her career and do something good for society, for the people around her,鈥 Pulati said.
Mukaddas Mijit, a Uyghur ethnomusicologist based in Brussels, said Dawut had been an important advisor to her and many other scholars early in their careers. Dawut was a critical bridge between global academia and Uyghur culture, Mijit said, mentoring a generation of prominent Uyghur scholars across the world.
鈥淪he was a guardian of Uyghur identity, and that鈥檚 something the Chinese government is after,鈥 Mijit said. 鈥淭hey want to erase everything, and they want Uyghurs to forget how beautiful and colorful a culture they had.鈥
