The Human Rights Committee of Sweden’s Scientific and Literary Academies once again urges Chinese authorities to release Professor Rahile Dawut a Chinese ethnic Uyghur ethnographer who reportedly is serving a life sentence in an undisclosed location.
Professor Rahile Dawut is well-known and respected in the international scientific community for her scholarly work on Uyghur folklore and religious culture. She disappeared in December 2017 while travelling to Beijing. Reports from unofficial sources subsequently indicated that Professor Rahile was being held by the government on unspecified criminal charges and that, over time, she appeared to have been convicted. The committee thus urges Chinese authorities to ensure Professor Rahile’s prompt and unconditional release from prison. In the interim the committee ask the Chinese authorities to ensure that her conditions of confinement are brought into conformity with the U.N. Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners including that she is allowed regular access to her family, to legal counsel, and to any needed medical care.
The letter:
Stockholm 20 March 2024
Your Excellency,
We, the Human Rights Committee of Sweden’s Scientific and Literary Academies, contact you respectfully to express our concern about Professor Rahile Dawut, a Chinese ethnic Uyghur ethnographer who reportedly is serving a life sentence in an undisclosed location.
Professor Rahile is well-known and respected in the international scientific community for her scholarly work on Uyghur folklore and religious culture. It is our understanding that much of her academic research at Xinjiang University was funded by China’s Ministry of Culture and that she has been recognized by the government for her contributions to the study of Chinese folklore. Professor Rahile reportedly disappeared in December 2017. We are alarmed that, six years later—without any information made public about her legal status, whereabouts, or well-being—reliable accounts indicate that she is serving a life sentence in China for allegedly endangering State security. Given the secrecy surrounding her case, there is reason to believe that her right to a fair trial and the standards of due process of law have not been respected but violated in an alarming manner.
In light of the information above, it appears that Professor Rahile has been arbitrarily detained and denied access to due process. These rights are protected under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which China is a signatory. Thus, we respectfully urge you to use your good offices to ensure that she is immediately and unconditionally released from prison. In the interim, we ask for your assistance in disclosing her whereabouts and ensuring that her conditions of confinement are brought into conformity with the U.N. Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules), including that she is allowed regular access to her family, to legal counsel, and to any needed medical care.
Thank you, Your Excellency, for your attention to this important matter.
Respectfully yours,
The Human Rights Committee of Sweden’s Scientific and Literary Academies
The Human Rights Committee of Sweden’s Scientific and Literary Academies includes members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, the Swedish Academy and the Young Academy of Sweden.
