Rahile Dawut loses appeal against a charge of endangering state security, a rights group says.

A prominent Uyghur academic has been reportedly jailed for life by China for “endangering state security”.

Rahile Dawut’s sentence was confirmed after she appealed against a 2018, according to the US-based Dui Hua Foundation rights group.

The 57-year-old professor lost her appeal this month.

China has been accused of crimes against humanity against the Uyghur population and other mostly-Muslim ethnic groups in Xinjiang.

Human rights groups believe China has detained more than one million Uyghurs against their will over the past few years in a large network of what the state calls “re-education camps”.