JAILED AMERICAN BASKETBALL star Brittney Griner has been moved to a penal colony in Russia, her legal team has said.

A Russian court rejected an appeal against her nine-year sentence for drug possession last month.

A statement from her legal team said: “Brittney was transferred from the detention centre in Iksha on 4 November. She is now on her way to a penal colony.

“We do not have any information on her exact current location or her final destination.”

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said: “Every minute that Brittney Griner must endure wrongful detention in Russia is a minute too long.

“As the Administration continues to work tirelessly to secure her release, the President has directed the Administration to prevail on her Russian captors to improve her treatment and the conditions she may be forced to endure in a penal colony.

“As we have said before, the US Government made a significant offer to the Russians to resolve the current unacceptable and wrongful detentions of American citizens.”

Griner, an eight-time all-star centre with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medallist, was convicted on August 4 after police said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.

She admitted that she had the canisters in her luggage, but testified that she had inadvertently packed them in haste and that she had no criminal intent.

Her defence team presented written statements that she had been prescribed cannabis to treat pain.