Renowned anthropologist and folklorist Rahile Dawut “secretly jailed” in China
Rahile Dawut was abducted by the Chinese authorities three years ago while on her way to a conference in Beijing. Since then, no trace. Now, in the last few days it’s been indirectly confirmed that she has been secretly jailed in China — for the details see further below.
Now let’s demand, with an ever stronger voice, that Rahile Dawut be immediately released, along with all the many thousands of other disappeared scholars and intellectuals and other camp detainees, as well as a halt to the entire Chinese state program destroying them and their peoples’ cultures.
Support Rahile Dawut’s daughter in exile, Akida Pulat, in fighting for her mom.
The Chinese authorities, in their cowardly manner, have never assumed responsibility for abducting Rahile Dawut and all the many other academics, intellectuals, artists, and others that have similarly “vanished” with no trace, in a manner that recalls the fascist juntas of Argentina and other places, long ago. The Chinese regime’s methods of disappearing people, never telling and never giving any reason, no-signs-of-life, is evidently not just because the only reason they have arrested her is that she is an outstanding woman scholar, but it is also we have to conclude, because the Beijing genocidaires have designed these methods to inflict maximum hurt and destruction in the victim’s families and circles of friends, and in the world at large. We’re looking at the Chinese Communist Party and its leadership: the regime that has engineered and that has publicly taken responsibility for the whole ongoing program of destruction of the Uyghur people and the other indigenous peoples of East Turkistan.
Here is documentation from the last few days:
“I feel infuriated to hear that my mother is in prison, while the Chinese authorities kept silent on this matter for more than three years. […] I am sincerely asking for help from human rights organizations”, reacted her daughter, based in the U.S. World Uyghur Congress, 2 juillet 2021, 03:35.
Citing the RFA Uyghur service, 2021-06-30
Prominent Uyghur scholar confirmed to be imprisoned three years after her forced disappearance. William Yang [DW], 5 july 2021.
Chinese version:
失踪三年音讯全无 消息证实维族学者遭关押 维吾尔学者热依拉.达吾提在被强迫消失超过3年后，上周传出确认被关在监狱的消息。她的女儿告诉德国之声，她母亲仅是新疆众多被关押判刑的维吾尔学者中的其中一人。Deutsche Welle, 05.07.2021.
- Earlier documentation on Rahile Dawut and her work (small selection, all in English except as noted):
Stolen by the State: Four years ago, a famous Uyghur anthropologist disappeared
Short interview by Rahile dawut in a Chinese TV before she was secretly arrested
Rahile Dawut: Three Years of Silence (colleague’s tribute video)
Still Searching 3 Years Since the Disappearance of Rahile Dawut (video)
Uyghur Scholar Rahile Dawut Named First OSUN Honorary Professor in the Humanities
Scholars at Risk Recognizes Imprisoned Uyghur Scholar Rahile Dawut
Rahile Dawut honored with Courage to Think Award
Where Is Uyghur Folklore Expert Rahile Dawut?
Happy Birthday, Rahile Dawut. You Are Not Forgotten
Martyna, Poland — support testimony for Rahile Dawut (short video)
Elise Anderson, USA, testifies for her friend and mentor, Rahile Dawut (short video)
Akida testifies for her mother, the scholar and pioneer Rahile Dawut (short video)
Statement concerning the detention of Rahile Dawut, Professor of Uyghur folklore, detained in Xinjiang (Central Eurasian Studies society)
The Assault on Indigenous Peoples in Northwest China Must End (American Anthropological Association, statement which mentions RD)
The Disappearance of Rahile Dawut: A vanished professor, remembered by students and colleagues
Rahile Dawut föll offer för Kinas kulturmord (in Swedish)
Rahile Dawut, la académica Uigur desaparecida en China (in Spanish)
Where is Rahile Dawut?
Rahile Dawut, Prominent Uyghur Scholar and Anthropologist, Missing
Star Scholar Disappears as Crackdown Engulfs Western China
‘Heaviness in the stomach’: A Uyghur daughter alone in America on her birthday during a pandemic
China: Free Our Parents From Concentration Camps
Free My Mom
- for more, see this online bibliography (periodically updated).
In anger,
Magnus Fiskesjö magnus.fiskesjo@cornell.edu