Dawut Obulqasim is a Uyghur writer, translator, and researcher. In February 2018, he and his wife, Reyhangül Memet, were taken from their home in Hami (Kumul) during the mass campaign of arrests targeting Uyghurs. There is no information about their two kids who separately 8 and 14 years old at that time. And in the late 2018 Dawut Obulqasim sentenced to 12 years prison term.
He had previously come under official scrutiny during the large-scale crackdown that began in September 2016. Authorities interrogated him over an article he had published in the journal Xinjiang Culture (Shinjang Medeniyiti) in 2006. He was released after several days, but remained under surveillance until his eventual detention in 2018.
Dawut Obulqasim was born in 1967 in Hami (Kumul). In 1985, he was admitted to the Department of Physics at Xinjiang University. Because he was one of the student leaders in the June 15, 1988 student demonstrations, he remained under government surveillance thereafter.
After graduating in 1990, he devoted himself to writing, business, and research on Uyghur medicine. Beginning in 1998, he established a publishing company and worked in publishing as well as literary writing.
During the 2000s, he published several influential essays in the journal Xinjiang Culture, including “We Need Young Men Like Memtili Efendi” and “The Spirit of Natural Science Among the Uyghurs.” Another essay, “What Should Be Done?“, appeared in the journal Hami Literature (Qumul Edebiyati).
Among the books he planned, translated, or published are:
- Hayatqa Tehlil, Qismetke Achquch (ھاياتقا تەھلىل قىسمەتكە ئاچقۇچ) (What life should mean to you – Alfred Adler)
- Tibabät Qanuni (تېبابەت قانۇنى) (The Canon of Medicine – Ibn Sina)
- Philosophy Written in Arabic (ئەرەب تىلىدا يېزىلغان پەلىسەپە)
- Is It a Struggle for Independence or a Separatist Conspiracy? (مۇستەقىللىق داۋاسىمۇ بۆلگۈنچىلىك ماجراسىمۇ) (2001)
- Sophie’s World (سوفىيەنىڭ دۇنياسى)
- Tere Pütük (تېرە پۈتۈك) (2013)
- Turning the Pages of History (تارىخ بېتىنى ۋاراقلىغاندا)
Beginning in 2001, Dawut Obulqasim founded Köknur Biotechnology Company, where he conducted research on traditional Uyghur medicine. In 2014, he published his book Uyghur Medical Philosophy (Uyghur Tibabät Pelsepisi).
