Authorities in China’s troubled north-western region of Xinjiang have punished residents for spreading rumours and “splittist” content via text messages, within days of turning services back on, according to local media.

Officials cut off the internet and short message services across the region after inter-ethnic violence in the capital, Urumqi, left almost 200 dead and 1,700 injured last July. At least 26 people have since been sentenced to death over the riots.

To read this report in The Guardian in full, see:
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/29/xinjiang-china