Under the Olympic spotlight China was apparently left deeply embarrassed by a string of violent incidents in the restive Xinjiang region, but now it seem it's getting even, according to a report from AP.

The news agency reports:

" … With the Olympics over and the world's focus elsewhere, it seems to be payback time for Xinjiang. Overseas Uighur rights groups have accused the government of mass arrests, which police deny. Uighurs interviewed by The Associated Press in Kuqa and Kashgar complained of sweeping detentions but would not say more ..."

AP writes that the most noticeable signs of tension are the restrictions which have been in force during the holy month of Ramadan, which ended this week.

" …Government employees, teachers and students can't fast during Ramadan. Mosques can't host out-of-town visitors or play video and sound recordings. Proselytizing in public is prohibited. Surveillance of mosques must be increased. Restaurants must stay open during the daylight fasting period …"

A systematic violation of rights

And there's fear throughout the region, says the article:

" Two Uighur college students on a sidewalk in Kashgar worried their images were captured by surveillance cameras. A taxi driver in Kuqa was concerned that a black car behind him was recording his conversations with eavesdropping equipment …"

The Uighur face severe restrictions on their religious freedom and social and cultural rights. They have been the target of systematic human rights violations, including imprisonment, detention, violence and killings by Chinese authorities since the 1980s.

And more recently China has exploited the international "war on terror" to suppress the Uighur, labelling them terrorists, separatists and religious extremists.

Witnesses have another story

Meanwhile, the New York Times say doubts have been raised about an alleged terrorist attack by Uighur separatists in the Xinjiang region which took place just days before the Olympics opened.

It has accounts from three foreign tourists who saw some of what happened from their hotel room. Their descriptions challenge core parts of the official Chinese version of the 4 August attack in Kashgar, which killed at least 16 paramilitary officers.

" … Among other discrepancies, the witnesses said that they heard no loud explosions and that the men wielding the machetes appeared to be paramilitary officers who were attacking other uniformed men.

" That raises several questions: Why were the police wielding machetes? Were they retaliating against assailants who had managed to obtain official uniforms? Had the attackers infiltrated the police unit, or was this a conflict between police officers? …"

One tourist took more than two dozen photograph and the New York Times has put together some of them in an audio slideshow.

Uighur man in Guantanamo

And the Chicago Tribune has an article out this week about Huzaifa Parhat, a Uighur who has been held in the US's Guantanamo Bay detention centre for seven years.

The US decided that he isn't a threat to national security, but he is still in Guantanamo because no country – including the US – will take him.

" …The U.S. State Department will not return Uighur detainees at Guantanamo to China because of fears that they will be imprisoned or tortured …"