Hong Kong press club condemns Yahoo! over China journalist jailing
MMC
377 words
4 October 2005
09:50
Agence France Presse
English
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005
All reproduction and presentation rights reserved.
HONG KONG, Oct 4 (AFP) -
Hong Kong's Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC) on Tuesday denounced US Internet giant Yahoo! for passing on information that led to the jailing of a journalist in China.
In a strongly worded letter to Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Wang and Hong Kong marketing chief Pauline Wong, the press club deplored the jailing of writer Shi Tao after the US company had provided authorities with his contact details.
"The club is deeply distressed by Yahoo!s compliance with requests from unknown mainland authorities to hand over information ... and we wish to express our displeasure in the strongest terms," the letter, signed by FCC president Ilaria Maria Sala and press freedom chief Francis Moriarty, said.
Shi, 37, who wrote for Hunan-based Contemporary Business News, was jailed for 10 years in April for revealing state secrets.
He was convicted of using his e-mail account to post on the Internet a government order barring Chinese media from marking the 15th anniversary of the brutal 1989 crackdown on democracy activists at Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
Yahoo!'s actions were revealed in the court's verdict, copies of which were posted on overseas Chinese websites. The move was sharply criticised by a number of media watchdog groups, including Reporters without Borders.
The letter from the storied FCC, which has been the base for Hong Kong's battery of foreign correspondents for the past 56 years, poured scorn on the US online giant's explanation that it had simply complied with Chinese law."Yahoo!s effort at self-justification actually worsens matters," the letter said.
"Yahoo!s effort at self-justification actually worsens matters," the letter said.
"Not only is no particular law nor regulation cited, but the suggestion that something as indefinable as 'customs' is a legitimate basis for becoming a willing accomplice to authoritarian action makes a mockery of Yahoo!s already feeble effort to appear law-abiding," it added.
"Handing over information regarding personal data to a government is not an act that Yahoo! should ever engage in without such material having being sought with a proper judicial warrant."
The letter also noted that some of the club's members were already boycotting the Internet firm and that others were considering following suit.
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