Abduweli Ayup (born April 1973) is a Western-educated linguist and poet who operated Uyghur language schools in Kashgar, Xinjiang, in the northwest part of China.

He later received a Ford Foundation fellowship to study at the University of Kansas in the United States, and completed his master's degree in Linguistics in 2011.

Upon graduation, Abduweli returned to Xinjiang and opened schools to teach the Uyghur language, his mother tongue.

[6] After a one-day trial on July 11, on August 21 the court convicted Abduweli and his associates of having "committed a crime of abusing public money".

Colleagues and human rights organizations contend that Abduweli's punishment is part of a government plan to marginalize and displace the Uyghur language.

[12] Abduweli returned to Kashgar and continued to teach at his friends' language training school, which his wife, Miraghul, worked in his absence.