Ms. Rahile Dawut, a professor in the Chinese Department of Xinjiang University, Uyghur folklore and ethnography expert, and anthropologist sentenced to life imprisonment by the Chinese Communist authorities, spends her 60th birthday in prison

On May 20, 2026, this website learned that Ms. Rahile Dawut, a professor in the Chinese Department of Xinjiang University, Uyghur folklore and ethnography expert, and anthropologist sentenced to life imprisonment by the Chinese Communist authorities, is spending her 60th birthday in prison today.

As an ethnographic scholar, she has always been committed to protecting Uyghur culture and identity. However, she was forcibly disappeared in December 2017 and was later sentenced to life imprisonment by the Chinese Communist authorities.

Profile of Rahile Dawut (Uyghur): Female, born on May 20, 1966, a native of Ürümqi, Xinjiang, of Uyghur ethnicity, Uyghur name Rahile Dawut（ راھىلە داۋۇت ），a resident of the Xinjiang University residential compound on Shengli Road in the Tianshan District of Ürümqi, a member of the Chinese Communist Party, a professor in the Chinese Department of Xinjiang University, director and professor of the Xinjiang University Research Center for Ethnic Minority Folklore, and a supervisor of master’s students in the field of ethnic minority language and literature, an internationally renowned Uyghur folklore and ethnography expert, anthropologist, and political prisoner detained in China.

From 1983 to 1987, she studied Uyghur language and literature in the Chinese Department of Xinjiang University, receiving a bachelor’s degree upon graduation. She subsequently obtained a master’s degree in ethnic minority folklore (including folklore studies) from the Chinese Department of Xinjiang University in July 1990, and a doctorate in folklore studies from the Chinese Department of Beijing Normal University in July 1998. Since July 1990, she has taught in the Chinese Department of Xinjiang University. During this period, because she founded and led the Xinjiang University Research Center for Ethnic Minority Folklore, and wrote dozens of articles in international journals and numerous books—including research on Islamic holy sites in Central Asia—and presented her work at conferences around the world, she was repeatedly recognized by academic circles at home and abroad. She was a visiting scholar and visiting professor several times in the Department of Folklore at the University of Pennsylvania, at Indiana University, and at the University of California in the United States. She supervised 18 graduate students at Xinjiang University, 12 of whom have graduated.

On December 12, 2017, after receiving a telephone call from a leader at her workplace asking her to pack her luggage and go to Beijing as soon as possible to attend an emergency meeting, she hurriedly left and headed to the airport. However, she lost contact while traveling to Beijing and has been unheard from ever since. Later, after her daughter, who was abroad at the time, and other family members made inquiries in all directions and issued international appeals, it was finally learned that she had been criminally detained by the Xinjiang authorities at the same time as several other Uyghur intellectuals and cultural figures. She was subsequently formally arrested by Ürümqi police on suspicion of “separatism,” accused of using her research projects to cause social “provocation” between farmers and the government.

In December 2020, she was secretly sentenced to life imprisonment by the Chinese Communist authorities in Xinjiang for “ethnic separatism” and other offenses, with her political rights deprived for life. It is reported that her physical health has developed serious problems because she suffered torture or psychological pressure in prison. She is currently serving her sentence in a prison in Ürümqi, Xinjiang.