People's Republic of China: Shi Tao

Journalist and poet Shi Tao, 38, is serving a 10-year prison sentence after being arrested in 2004 in connection with an email sent from his Yahoo! account. This email to a Chinese pro-democracy website based in the USA contained an article describing the Chinese government’s instructions to Chinese journalists on how to cover the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Amnesty International considers Shi Tao to be a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression.

Update: 7 August 2007 A Chinese police document that has recently become available suggests that Yahoo! was at least aware of the general nature of the ‘crime’, before it decided to hand over Shi Tao’s account user information.

The Duihua Foundation reports that an April 2004 police notice to Yahoo! states that the police were seeking evidence in a suspected case of “illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities.”

This information appears to contradict recent assertions by Yahoo! that the company had no knowledge of the nature of the investigation at the time. The Duihua Foundation refers specifically to testimony given by Yahoo! senior vice president and general counsel Michael Callahan before two US congressional subcommittees in February 2006: “When Yahoo! China in Beijing was required to provide information about the user, who we later learned was Shi Tao, we had no information about the nature of the investigation.” Find out more on duihua.com

For further information and comment on this news, see our Irrepressible blog

The internet service provider Yahoo! gave confidential account holder information to the Chinese authorities which helped them to identify Shi Tao and led to his arrest on charges of ‘illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities’. ‘State secrets’
are only vaguely defined in Chinese law: whether something constitutes a ‘state secret’ is often an arbitrary and politically
motivated decision, enabling the Chinese authorities to detain those peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression.

The information provided by Yahoo! was also used as evidence during the unfair trial which resulted in Shi Tao’s imprisonment. Shortly before the trial, Shi Tao’s defence lawyer, Guo Guoting, an experienced human rights lawyer, had his licence to practise law suspended. Guo Guoting reportedly considered this action by the authorities as an attempt to prevent him from defending Shi Tao.

Yahoo! accepts that the case ‘raises profound and troubling questions about basic human rights’, but distances itself from responsibility, saying they were legally obligated to comply with the demand for information. Amnesty International believes that Yahoo!’s actions are not justifiable: companies must respect human rights wherever they operate.

Amnesty International is deeply concerned by reports that Shi Tao is being forced to work under harsh conditions in Chishan
prison, and also by reports that his family have been harassed by the Chinese authorities. Shi Tao’s wife was questioned daily by public security bureau officials and persistently pressured by her work unit to divorce him, which she eventually did.
His brother and uncle have also been under surveillance and harassed at home and at work, and his mother is closely monitored and harassed as she continues to petition for her son’s release.

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• Find out more about our Human Rights For China campaign

Journalist and poet Shi Tao, 38, is serving a 10-year prison sentence after being arrested in 2004 in connection with an email sent from his Yahoo! account. This email to a Chinese pro-democracy website based in the USA contained an article describing the Chinese government’s instructions to Chinese journalists on how to cover the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Amnesty International considers Shi Tao to be a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression.

Update: 7 August 2007 A Chinese police document that has recently become available suggests that Yahoo! was at least aware of the general nature of the ‘crime’, before it decided to hand over Shi Tao’s account user information.

The Duihua Foundation reports that an April 2004 police notice to Yahoo! states that the police were seeking evidence in a suspected case of “illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities.”

This information appears to contradict recent assertions by Yahoo! that the company had no knowledge of the nature of the investigation at the time. The Duihua Foundation refers specifically to testimony given by Yahoo! senior vice president and general counsel Michael Callahan before two US congressional subcommittees in February 2006: “When Yahoo! China in Beijing was required to provide information about the user, who we later learned was Shi Tao, we had no information about the nature of the investigation.” Find out more on duihua.com

For further information and comment on this news, see our Irrepressible blog

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