China court jails man for picking quarrels and provoking trouble

The man "had started growing his beard in 2010" while his wife "wore a veil hiding her face and a burqa", the paper said. The couple were found guilty of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble", a vague accusation regularly used in the Chinese judicial system.

For more than a year the authorities in Xinjiang have been campaigning against men growing beards — a practice officials associate with extremist ideas. A campaign dubbed "Project Beauty" also encourages women to leave their heads bare and abandon wearing the veil, a relatively widespread practice among the Uighurs — the main Muslim ethnic group in Xinjiang.

The Kashgar couple had "received several warnings" before being charged, the newspaper reported, citing local officials. "Since the beginning of the year, a certain number of people breaking the regulation on beards, veils and burqas have been prosecuted and sentenced," officials in Kashgar were quoted as saying by the paper.

Kashgar authorities could not be reached for comment. Rights groups believe Beijing's repression of the Uighurs' culture and religion has fanned tensions in Xinjiang, a resource-rich region that abuts central Asia. Violence increased last year and at least 200 people were killed in a series of bombings and deadly clashes with security forces, blamed by Beijing on "separatists" and "religious extremists". In April last year authorities in Xinjiang's Shaya county offered cash to informants to report on neighbours with excessive facial hair. In August authorities in Karamay city banned people with large beards or Islamic clothing from travelling on public buses.