Wang Xiaoning
Wang Xiaoning (Chinese: 王小宁; Pinyin: Wáng Xiǎoníng) is a Chinese dissident from Shenyang who was arrested by authorities of the People's Republic of China for publishing controversial material online using his Yahoo! email account.
In 2000 and 2001, Wang, who was an engineer by profession, posted electronic journals in a Yahoo! group calling for democratic reform and an end to single-party rule. He was arrested in September 2002, after Yahoo! assisted Chinese authorities by providing information used to identify him. In September 2003, Wang was convicted of charges of "subversion" and sentenced to ten years in prison.[1]
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[edit] Lawsuit against Yahoo!
On April 18, 2007, Xiaoning's wife Yu Ling sued Yahoo! under human rights laws, specifically the Alien Torts Statute (28 U.S.C. § 1350) and Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 (TVPA), 106 Stat. 73 (1992) in federal court in San Francisco, California, United States.[2] Wang Xiaoning was named as a plaintiff in the Yahoo suit, as was Shi Tao, a Chinese journalist detained and convicted for emailing a description of Chinese’s government’s instructions to journalists for the upcoming anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. Both men were punished for exercising their freedom of speech because Yahoo!’s Chinese subsidiary provided their identifying information to the Chinese government.[3]
The lawsuit was filed by the World Organization for Human Rights USA.[4] "Yahoo is guilty of 'an act of corporate irresponsibility,' said Morton Sklar, then the Executive Director of the group. 'Yahoo had reason to know that if they provided China with identification information that those individuals would be arrested."[5]
In 2006, Yahoo! executives had testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs that the company was unaware of the nature of the charges against Shi Tao when it gave his personal information to the Chinese government. However, in the course of the litigation, new evidence came to light that Yahoo! knew what the charges against Shi Tao were and disclosed his identity anyway.[3]
In November 2007, Yahoo! was called back to Congress to testify about its actions in China before the bi-partisan House Committee on Foreign Affairs. The plaintiffs’ families traveled from China to bear witness as the Committee questioned Yahoo!’s executives. Referencing the discrepancy between Yahoo!’s leaders’ testimony in 2006 and the new evidence, the Committee Chair, Representative Tom Lantos, said Yahoo!’s failure to correct the record was inexcusably negligent behavior at best and deliberately deceptive behavior at worst.
Rep. Lantos then told CEO Jerry Yang and General Counsel Michael Callahan to beg forgiveness from the families of the detainees. Both men turned and bowed to the women, and publicly apologized. One week later, Yahoo! and the family settled the lawsuit.[3]
Shi Tao and Wang Xiaoning remain in prison.
[edit] Other cases
On September 7, 2005 another dissident, Shi Tao, was arrested due to Yahoo! supplied information. Yahoo! stated it was simply complying with Chinese law. Other related cases are those of Jiang Lijun and Li Zhi.
[edit] See also
- Blocking of Wikipedia in mainland China
- Chinese Wikipedia
- Dissident
- Golden Shield Project
- Human rights in the People's Republic of China
- Jerry Yang (entrepreneur)
- Internet censorship in the People's Republic of China
- Internet in the People's Republic of China
- List of Chinese dissidents
- List of notable websites blocked in the People's Republic of China
- List of words censored by search engines in the People's Republic of China
- Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China
- Political dissidents
[edit] References
- ^ Coonan, Clifford (2007-04-20). "Chinese couple sue Yahoo! in US over torture case". London: The Independent. http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2465946.ece. Retrieved 2010-05-27.
- ^ Egelko, Bob (2007-04-19). "Suit by wife of Chinese activist". SF Gate. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/04/19/BUGU9PB4SG1.DTL&type=printable.
- ^ a b c http://www.humanrightsusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=35
- ^ "Second Amended Complaint". http://www.humanrightsusa.org/index2.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=68&Itemid=80.
- ^ "Advocates Sue Yahoo In Chinese Torture Case". The Washington Post. 2007-04-20. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/18/AR2007041802510.html?hpid=moreheadlines.
[edit] External links
- Yahoo to face suit over jailing of Chinese dissident from Monstersandcritics.com
- 'Yahoo Betrayed My Husband' from Wired News
- Essays - Chinese from Google search
- Wang Xiaoning, Yu Ling and Shi Tao v. Yahoo! Inc., Yahaoo! Holdings (Hong Kong), Ltd. and Alibaba.com, Inc. lawsuit filings, briefs, declarations motions and other documents.
[edit] Alien Tort Claims Act
- Alien Tort Claims Act from Harvard Law.
- The Alien Tort Claims Act: A Vital Tool for Preventing Corporations from Violating Fundamental Human Rights by the International Labor Rights Fund
- Is the Alien Tort Claims Act a powerful human rights tool? from CNN.com
- Defend the Alien Tort Claims Act from Human Rights Watch
