Amoiist's tweets from jail

The Yan Xiaoling case is back in the news:

In July 2009, six or possibly seven bloggers were detained after they posted text and videos alleging that a gang rape and murder had occurred at a police-backed hotel.

One of the bloggers, Peter Guo or "amoiist" posted messages to Twitter after he had been detained, saying "Pls help me, I grasp the phone during police sleep" and "I have been arrested by Mawei police, SOS."

Guo was eventually released, but three of the other Internet users who were detained have now been sentenced to jail terms. Last night The Global Times published a report that begins thusly:

Ren Jiaqi sang the national anthem in tears at the gate of the People's Court of Mawei District in Fuzhou, capital of Fujian Province.

The 53-year-old poet, a Communist Party member, was sobbing after he learnt that three Internet users were convicted of criminal defamation for posting an accusation of rape-to-death and naming two local officials as being involved.

"What's happened to the three accused today, could happen to the common people," Ren, one of some 2,300 concerned citizens gathered outside the court to oversee the trial, told the Global Times.

Fan Yanqiong, one of the three, was sentenced to a two-year imprisonment while two others, You Jingyou and Wu Huaying, were each handed one-year jail term by the court on April 16.

The defendants were held to be guilty of criminal defamation by leading to massive replies, attacks, abuses and slander among Internet users that severely destroyed the reputation of a few victims and stoked public disorder, reported the Xinhua News Agency.