BBC News
30 July 2010

China has jailed three ethnic Uighur website owners as it clamps down on dissent a year after deadly ethnic riots in Xinjiang, say reports.

An exiled activist group, the Uyghur American Association (UAA), said the three men were sentenced to 10, five and three years respectively.

Officials have not confirmed the charges or the sentences.

In last year’s violence between Uighurs and Han Chinese, the authorities say nearly 200 people were killed.

The three men who were reportedly jaioled had founded or managed Uighur-language websites.

They were identified as Dilshat Perhat, webmaster of Diyarim; Nureli, webmaster of Salkin; and Nijat Azat, webmaster of Shabnam.

The websites, among the most popular in the Uighur language, were blocked by the Chinese authorities last year.    more …