China Sentences Uyghur Scholar to Life in Prison

A prominent scholar of Uyghur traditional culture who disappeared six years ago has been given a life sentence in prison, a Chinese official said on September 22. The official said that the scholar, Rahile Dawut, was detained in 2017 and convicted in December 2018 for endangering Chinese state security by promoting “splittism.”

Rahile taught at Xinjiang University College of Humanities, and was known for being a “prolific and demanding scholar” who traveled the Xinjiang region to “document religious festivals, music performances and traditional storytelling of her own Uyghur community,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

Rahile is one of many prominent Uyghurs who have been imprisoned or have gone missing as a result of the Chinese government’s effort to dilute Uyghur identity in Xinjiang.

The Chinese government says Rahile is guilty of ‘splittism.’ The truth, though, is that her only crime was being born a Uyghur.
—Joshua Freeman, historian at Academia Sinica in Taiwan

Genocide: The Chinese Communist Party (ccp) is often accused of committing “cultural genocide” by wiping out Uyghur culture. Xinjiang is one of the world’s most strictly controlled surveillance states, with hundreds of thousands of cameras, security checkpoints and agents working to persecute and assimilate the ethnic Muslims.

Times of the Gentiles: During His ministry on Earth, Jesus Christ spoke of “the times of the Gentiles,” a terrifying era in which Gentile people such as China and Russia rule (Luke 21:24). China’s ruthless effort to replace Uyghur culture with ccp ideology shows its ambition for a much bigger plan: global domination of all mankind.

In our latest Trumpet issue, editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote:

Men never had the authority or even the capacity to rule over and control other men. … The beastly rule of Gentile empires is about to prove this reality in a terribly bloody and horrific way. … Many people are going to suffer and die terrible deaths as the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

Only Jesus Christ’s return will end man’s wicked rule and establish God’s government of peace and prosperity for all mankind.

Learn more: Read “Xi Jinping: China’s Genocide Against Uyghurs Has Not Been Harsh Enough.”