Shi Tao, China
Shi Tao, a freelance writer and head of the news division at Dangdai Shangbao (Contemporary Trade News) in Hunan, was charged in November 2004 with “illegally divulging state secrets abroad” after emailing details of the propaganda ministry’s list of prohibited subjects to foreign media contacts. The Chinese authorities seized Shi’s computer and private documents and warned his family to keep quiet about the matter. In April 2005, the Changsha Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Shi to ten years in prison and the sentence was upheld at an appeal in June. Shi's mother has applied for a review of the appeal on procedural grounds. Court documents showed that a Hong Kong subsidiary of Yahoo! provided the Chinese police with information used to link Shi's computer to the allegedly classified email. (In November 2007, at a US congressional hearing, two of Yahoo's senior executives apologized to Shi Tao’s mother, but did not confirm that their company would reject future requests for similar information on political dissidents.) Shi’s mother and lawyer report that his access to reading material has been restricted, and that his health has deteriorated because of forced prison labour.

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