Xinjiang bans terror video, audio

Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region issued a notice on Monday forbidding the dissemination of audio and video that includes terrorism and violence.

The notice, issued by the court, procuratorate, police, culture and business authorities of Xinjiang, aims at controlling the growing number of attacks on law enforcers and civilians, believed to be linked to terrorist group training videos.

The notice targets audio and video that include materials advocating violence and terrorism, religious extremism and separation of ethnic groups.

The authorities forbid using cellphones, computers and mobile storage devices to make, send, play, copy, transfer or save the audio and video, the notice said.

Those who possess violent or terrorist audio and video must delete or destroy the materials after the notice is issued. Individuals who cannot delete them must submit the materials to public security authorities or local government within a month, the notice says.

Violators will be fined or detained. Serious violators are subject to criminal penalties according to the Criminal Law.

The regulation came out in response to Xinjiang police finding that in recent years terrorist suspects were drawing inspiration from shared audio and video of overseas terrorism activities.

Turgunjan Tursun, a research fellow at the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that the regulation provides a legal basis for law enforcement to crack down on terrorist activities.

He also pointed out that it is becoming harder to stop the activities with the fast development of Internet technology and the spreading of terrorism audio and video must be dealt with nationwide.

At least five terrorist attacks on police and civilians took place in Xinjiang this year, according to Urumqi police, following a dozen similar incidents last year.

Police have found the attackers had often been trained by watching videos of terrorism activities from abroad.

The attackers of the April 23, 2013 incident in Bachu, Kashi, which left 15 community workers and police officers dead, reportedly received training from terrorist video.