Famed Uyghur scholar sentenced to life in prison

Beijing, Sep 23: A prominent Uyghur scholar specialising in the study of her people’s folklore and traditions has been sentenced to life in prison, according to a US-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.
“The 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,” John Kamm, executive director of the Dui Hua Foundation, said in a statement. (AP)
Dawut was a professor at Xinjiang University and founder of the school’s Ethnic Minorities Folklore Research Centre.
She disappeared in late 2017 amid a brutal government crackdown aimed at the Uyghurs, a Turkic, predominately Muslim ethnicity native to China’s northwest Xinjiang region. (AP)