Rebecca MacKinnon posts excerpts of a document sent to Yahoo!’s Beijing office from the Beijing State Security Bureau requesting information about Yahoo! user Shi Tao, who is now serving a ten-year sentence for revealing state secrets. As Rebecca points out, the document (originally translated and posted by the Duihua Foundation) specifically says the investigation concerns potential state secrets charges, even though Yahoo! executives have consistently denied knowing what type of crime was being investigated. From RConversation:
So Yahoo!’s Beijing office was informed from the beginning that this was not an investigation into a potential murderer, thief, child pornographer, or terrorist, but somebody suspected of giving “state secrets” to foreigners. As Dui Hua’s Joshua Rosenzweig says: “One does not have to be an expert in Chinese law to know that “state secrets” charges have often been used to punish political dissent in China.” [Full text]
