MCLC: Shit Tao released

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Jacqueline and Martin Winter <dujuan99 at gmail.com>
Subject: Shi Tao released
***********************************************************

Source: South China Morning Post (9/9/13):
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1306818/chinese-journalist-shi-tao-j
ailed-eight-years-after-yahoo-gave-his

Chinese journalist Shi Tao, jailed for eight years after Yahoo gave up his
identity, gets early release
By Reuters in Beijing

China has released from prison early a prominent dissident and journalist
who was jailed in 2005 for leaking state secrets abroad after Yahoo helped
authorities identify him, a rights group said.

Shi Tao was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Yahoo defended itself at the
time, saying it had to abide by local laws.

The writers' organisation PEN International said late on Saturday that Shi
had been released 15 months before the end of his sentence.

"We welcome the news of Shi Tao’s early release, at a time when there seem
to be increasingly long shadows over freedom of expression in China," the
group’s Marian Botsford Fraser said in a statement.

"Shi Tao’s arrest and imprisonment, because of the actions of Yahoo China,
signalled a decade ago the challenges to freedom of expression of internet
surveillance and privacy that we are now dealing with."

A Chinese rights activist, who is in contact with Shi, confirmed he had
been released just over a week ago. The activist, who asked not to be
identified, said Shi was not accepting interviews for now.

It was not immediately clear why he had been let out early, though such
releases can be granted in China due to good behaviour in jail.
Shi’s prosecution was based on an e-mail he sent to a New York-based
website detailing media restrictions ahead of the 15th anniversary of the
1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protests around Tiananmen Square.

PEN said that Shi "was treated relatively well in prison during the last
few years, and wrote many poems, including Song of October written from
prison after he learned that Liu Xiaobo had been awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize".

Liu was jailed in 2010 on subversion charges and new Chinese President Xi
Jinping has shown no sign of wanting to release him or end the Communist
Party’s crackdown on dissidents and others who challenge the party’s
authority.

China is also in the midst of yet another push to rein in freedom of
speech on the internet, in what authorities say is a campaign to stop the
spread of irresponsible rumours.

Yahoo shut its China e-mail service last month, part of a gradual
pull-back from the country since buying a stake in China’s Alibaba in 2005.
PEN said that Shi "was treated relatively well in prison during the last
few years, and wrote many poems, including Song of October written from
prison after he learned that Liu Xiaobo had been awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize".

Liu was jailed in 2010 on subversion charges and new Chinese President Xi
Jinping has shown no sign of wanting to release him or end the Communist
Party’s crackdown on dissidents and others who challenge the party’s
authority.

China is also in the midst of yet another push to rein in freedom of
speech on the internet, in what authorities say is a campaign to stop the
spread of irresponsible rumours.

Yahoo shut its China e-mail service last month, part of a gradual
pull-back from the country since buying a stake in China’s Alibaba in 2005.