STRASBOURG (Reuters) – The European Parliament gave on Thursday its annual prize for the defence of human rights to Ilham Tohti, its president David Sassoli said, a blow to China where the Uighur activist is serving a life sentence on charges of separatism.

Tohti, an economics professor and Uighur rights advocate, has been in jail since 2014. The European Parliament chose him for his activity to “foster dialogue” between Chinese people and the Uighur Muslim minority who mostly lives in China’s western state of Xinjiang.

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio ; Editing by Jon Boyle)