Houston Community News >> Chinese Pair Sues Yahoo
4/19/2007-- A Chinese couple
sued Yahoo and its Chinese affiliates on Wednesday, alleging the internet firms
provided information that helped the Chinese government prosecute the man for
his internet writings.
Wang Xiaoning was sentenced to ten years in prison last year for "incitement to
subvert state power" after he emailed electronic journals advocating democratic
reform and a multi-party system.
His house and computer were searched in 2002.
In the complaint filed in US District Court for Northern California, Wang and
his wife Yu Ling charged the internet firms turned over details to prosecutors
that helped identify him to authorities.
"While in custody, Plaintiffs were subjected to torture and cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment, including arbitrary, prolonged and indefinite detention,
for expressing their free speech rights and for using the internet to
communicate about democracy and human rights matters," the filing said.
The suit, advanced by the World Organization for Human Rights USA, based in
Washington DC, said Yahoo benefited financially by working with authorities.
China is the world's second largest internet market.
"Defendants had every reason to know and understand that the electronic
communication user information they provided to authorities could well be used
to assist in the infliction of such abuses as arbitrary arrest, torture, cruel,
inhuman or other degrading threat and prolonged detention and/or forced labour,"
it said.
In a statement, Yahoo said it was distressed that Chinese citizens had been sent
to prison for expressing their views on the internet.
"However, the concerns raised about the Chinese government compelling companies
to follow Chinese law and disclose user information are not new," it said.
"Companies doing business in China must comply with Chinese law or its local
employees could be faced with civil and criminal penalties."
The lawsuit came on a day Yahoo shares fell more than 11 per cent after the
internet firm's earnings announced on Tuesday fell below expectations.
The suit names Yahoo, its Hong Kong subsidiary and Alibaba.com, China's largest
e-commerce firm, as defendants. California-based Yahoo bought a 40 per cent
stake in Alibaba for $US1 billion in a 2005 deal.
Yahoo said the US government should seek to lobby for political prisoners in
China.
"We call on the US Department of State to continue making this issue of free
expression a priority in bilateral and multilateral forums with the Chinese, as
well as through other tools of trade and diplomacy, in order to help secure the
freedom of these dissidents," the firm said.
(Contributed by Reuters)