Hong Kong legislator Albert Ho today released a document which is said to be a copy of the criminal verdict for reporter Shi Tao. The journalist received a ten year prison sentence from a Chinese court for "leaking state secrets."
"Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. provided materials that confirmed the user's information," the document said.
The document appeared to contradict early comments by Yahoo, which said evidence used to convict the journalist was provided by Yahoo's unit in China to comply with the mainland's laws.
Those standards are more restrictive than those in Hong Kong, a former British colony that has been governed under a "one country, two systems" formula since it returned to China in 1997. The territory prides itself on having an independent rule of law and international business and privacy standards.
Link to AP story. Via Forbes today, news that Shi Tao's family is considering legal action against Yahoo:
Zhang Yu, representing the family of Shi Tao, said they were considering taking Yahoo Hong Kong Holdings to court either here or in the United States.
'We believe what (Yahoo) did was illegal so we are considering taking Yahoo to court,' Zhang told reporters, adding that Yahoo had refused to discuss the matter with him.
Link.
