Chinese authorities have reportedly jailed a prominent Uyghur academic for life for endangering state security.

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

This month, the 57-year-old professor lost her appeal.

Uyghurs and other mostly-Muslim ethnic groups in Xinjiang have been accused of crimes against humanity by China.

According to human rights groups, over one million Uyghurs have been detained in “re-education camps” by the Chinese government against their will.

The government has sentenced hundreds of thousands to prison.

According to John Kamm, executive director of the Dui Hua Foundation, the sentencing of Professor Rahile Dawut is cruel and a great loss for the Uyghur people.

Her immediate release and safe return to her family were his demands.

According to her daughter, Akeda Pulati, she worries every day about her mother.

Her statement released by Dui Hua said, “I can’t bear the thought of my innocent mother spending her life in prison. China, show your mercy and release my innocent mother.”.

The secret trial of Ms Dawut took place in December 2018 in a Xinjiang court following her arrest last year for “splittism”, a crime of endangering national security.

Dui Hua’s sentence of life imprisonment has been confirmed by a Chinese government source.

Before her arrest, Ms Dawut taught at Xinjiang University College of Humanities and was an expert on Uyghur folklore and traditions.

In 2007, she established the Ethnic Minorities Research Centre at the university and conducted fieldwork throughout Xinjiang. Previously, she lectured at Harvard and Cambridge universities in the US and UK.