Rahile Dawut (热依拉•达吾提)
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Crime: “separatism”
Length of Punishment: Life sentence
Court: Unknown intermediate court in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
Trial Date: Unknown date in December 2018
Sentencing Date: Unknown
Dates of Detention/Arrest/Indictment: Forcibly disappeared in December 2017, exact dates of criminal detention, arrest and indictment unknown
Place of Incarceration: Unknown
Appeal hearing date: Unknown
Appeal court: Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region High People’s Court
Appeal ruling: Upheld original sentence
Rahile Dawut is a Uyghur scholar and world-renowned expert on Uyghur folklore and culture. Authorities forcibly disappeared her in 2017, and in 2023 the organization Dui Hua announced that it had confirmed she had been sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of “separatism.” She is the only woman HRD that CHRD is aware of sentenced to life imprisonment in China. In September and October 2025, UN human rights experts expressed serious concern about her abduction and enforced disappearance and the Chinese government’s criminalisation of Uyghur cultural expression. Information on her current status or whereabouts is unknown.
In 2020, after accepting the Courage to Think award on behalf of her mother, Akida Pulati said:
“My mother is a scholar, not a criminal. She studies the folklore and cultural traditions of minority populations. That is not a threat to the government, other institutions, or the people of China.”
Further Information
“China: End Long-Term Imprisonment of Human Rights Defenders”, CHRD, December 9, 2025[F1]
Five Special Procedures Inquiry to Chinese Government on Rahile Dawut – September 3, 2025
“Life Sentence for Professor Rahile Dawut Confirmed”, Dui Hua Foundation – September 21, 2023
