Prominent indigenous rights activist Fayil Alsynov, whose jailing earlier this year sparked mass protests in Russia’s republic of Bashkortostan, was beaten while serving a prison sentence in the Perm region, his lawyersaid Monday. Alsynov was sentenced in January to four years in prison for “inciting ethnic hatred.” Some observers believe he was targeted for campaigning against illegal gold mining operations in his native Bashkortostan. “I can confirm that he was subjected to bodily harm,” Alsynov’s lawyer, Ilnur Suyundukov, said of his client’s beating, adding that local prosecutors were look…