Shi Tao, journalist

In June 2005, Shi Tao was sentenced to ten years in prison on charges of "leaking state secrets" after he wrote an email about media restrictions in the lead up to the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. At the time of his arrest, Shi worked for the daily Dangdai Shang Bao (Contemporary Business News), based in the southern province of Hunan.

In April 2004, Shi made public information that had been sent to his newspaper by the Chinese authorities, warning journalists of the dangers of social destabilisation and risks linked to the return of certain dissidents to China on the occasion of the commemoration of the massacre. He sent the email from his personal Yahoo account. The e-mail was picked up by several overseas Internet portals. It was also picked up by the Chinese authorities, with the assistance of the Yao Internet Service Provider, which reportedly gave state security authorities details about Shi's e-mail usage that ultimately allowed them to trace the message to a computer he used at the newspaper.

When asked about Yahoo's involvement, Yahoo's co-founder Jerry Yang said his company had no choice but to cooperate with the authorities. "To be doing business in China, or anywhere else in the world, we have to comply with local law," Yang said responding to a question about his company's role in the case. "We don't know what they want that information for, we're not told what they look for. If they give us the proper documentation and court orders, we give them things that satisfy both our privacy policy and the local rules."

Officials detained Shi near his home in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, on 24 November 2004, confiscating his computer and warning his family to stay quiet about the matter. On 27 April 2005, Changsha Intermediate People's Court found the journalist guilty of "leaking state secrets" and sentenced him to a ten year prison term. On 2 June, the Hunan Province High People's Court rejected Shi's appeal without giving the journalist a hearing.

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