Court Cites GFW Circumvention Software in Convicting Man for Three Tweets That Incited Ethnic Hatred
According to a judgment issued by the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region Kuitun Municipal People's Court in March 2016 (translated below) Tian Weiguo was sentenced to three years imprisonment for three posts he made on Google Plus and Twitter that "incited ethnic hatred." In its judgment the court specifically noted that Tian had used software to circumvent China's Great Firewall in order to make his posts on overseas websites. The issues that Tian were posting about related to an outbreak of violence in Xinjiang in 2014 that was reported by Chinese state run media outlet the Global Times in an article entitled " Xinjiang Vows Unceasing Terror Crackdown ." Some excerpts: Xinjiang authorities revealed details of the Shache county terror attack on July 28 in a Saturday meeting chaired by its Party chief, putting the death toll at 96 and calling for a resolute crackdown to eradicate terrorists believed to be linked to overseas masterminds. In one of the