BEIJING: A Beijing court on Thursday upheld on appeal an 11-year jail term for leading Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, who was convicted on Christmas Day on subversion charges, one of his lawyers said.

"The sentence was confirmed," the attorney, Shang Baojun, told AFP after a brief hearing.

The initial conviction of Liu -- who co-authored Charter 08, a manifesto calling for bold political reform -- on charges of "inciting subversion of state power" prompted indignation from Western governments and rights groups.

The 54-year-old writer was previously jailed over the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests.