Thread by @RianThum

3+ years after my colleague Rahile Dawut's disappearance, some news about the official reasons for her detention. Police station at Xinjiang University says she was "provoking" farmers against the government. You can hear the phone recording from RFA here: rfa.org/uyghur/xewerle…

Rahile did most of her fieldwork in rural locations. As a star scholar visiting from the top provincial university, she was in a position to tell local officials in remote areas that the religious traditions she was studying were innocuous and important to Uyghur inhabitants.

Her daughter Akida is reporting a change in her family's communication (which is presumably closely monitored by the government) since the phone call.

https://twitter.com/akida_p/status/1410356366883975170?s=20

(Reporters: note that Akida is happy to talk about this issue on the record)

Mixed feelings hearing this news. Somehow after such long silence, it's comforting to hear something. It's infuriating to hear they have basically accused her of mediating on behalf of farmers with local authorities, which in another era might be called "promoting ethnic unity."

And frightening to catch a glimpse of the police-state's gears turning, yet not know whether this is good news or bad.

Also this is a reminder of the important work @RFA_UyghurNews journalists do. As far as I know this is the only outlet cold-calling Xinjiang officials in both Chinese and Uyghur languages. They get valuable answers and they post the recordings.