[privacy] Yahoo condemns lack of free speech in China, but says it must follow nation's law

[<rms () computerbytesman com>]

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/11/asia/AS-GEN-Hong-Kong-Yahoo-Jailed
-Reporter.php

 

Yahoo condemns lack of free speech in China, but says it must follow
nation's law 


The Associated Press 

Sunday, June 10, 2007 

 

HONG KONG: China should not punish people for expressing their political
views on the Internet, Yahoo Inc. said on Monday - one day after the mother
of a jailed Chinese reporter announced she was suing the U.S. company for
helping officials imprison her son.

Yahoo criticized China in a brief statement that didn't specifically mention
the case of jailed journalist Shi Tao, whose mother visited Hong Kong on
Sunday. Shi was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2005 after sending an
e-mail about Chinese media restrictions.

"Yahoo is dismayed that citizens in China have been imprisoned for
expressing their political views on the Internet," the company said in the
statement faxed to The Associated Press, which asked Yahoo to comment on
Shi's lawsuit.

The Sunnyvale, California-based Internet company also said that it has told
China that it condemns "punishment of any activity internationally
recognized as free expression."

However, Yahoo added that companies operating in China must comply with
Chinese law or risk having their employees face civil or criminal penalties.

The company has acknowledged sharing information about Shi with Chinese
authorities. Shi was writing for the financial publication Contemporary
Business News when he circulated an e-mail with his notes about a government
circular about media restrictions. He was convicted of leaking state
secrets.

Shi's legal challenge, filed on May 29 in U.S. District Court, is part of a
lawsuit filed earlier by the World Organization for Human Rights USA. The
group is suing Yahoo Inc. and its subsidiary in Hong Kong. Also named is
Alibaba.com Inc., a Yahoo partner that runs Yahoo China.

On Sunday in Hong Kong, Shi's mother, Gao Qingsheng, insisted her son was
innocent and that the family would press ahead with the legal action.

"I believe my son is innocent. We will fight until the end," she told
reporters.

The 61-year-old mother was in South Africa last week to receive the annual
Golden Pen of Freedom prize on behalf of her son.

Plaintiffs in the American case also include imprisoned dissident Wang
Xiaoning and his wife, Yu Ling.

Wang was sentenced in September 2003 on the charge of "incitement to subvert
state power," a vaguely defined statute that the Communist Party frequently
uses to punish its political critics.

The Chinese government said Wang distributed pro-democracy writings authored
by him and others by e-mail and through Yahoo Groups, an online e-mail
community.

 

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