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Zhao Lianhai, father of a boy who became ill from contaminated milk powder in China in 2008 is being held as a prisoner of conscience and is at risk of torture and other ill- treatment for his campaigning for justice for other affected families.
Journalist Hairat Niyas was taken from his home on October 1. His family received a note stating he had been arrested for "endangering state security".
British national, Akmal Shaikh, who is believed to be mentally ill, has been sentenced to death in China for drug smuggling. His appeal was rejected, despite the fact that he is mentally ill, he is sentenced to death on 29 October 2009.
Chinese pro-democracy activist Zhou Yongjun is about to face trial in China after an arbitrary arrest in Hong Kong. China has not been able to demonstrate that he is being held for a recognizable criminal offense. If convicted, he could potentially be jailed for life.
In April 2004, the Chinese journalist Shi Tao used his Yahoo! email account to send a message to a U.S.-based pro-democracy website. In his email, he summarized a government order directing media organizations in China to downplay the upcoming 15th anniversary of the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy activists. Police arrested him in November 2004, charging him with "illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities."
Amnesty International is concerned that Chinese Internet service providing companies, including Baidu, Sina and Sohu, are complying with Chinese government requests and demands to censor content online and otherwise repress the rights to freedom of expression and privacy. Call on these companies to ensure the Internet fulfills its potential to empower and educate and to create global communities. Download the action Defend online freedom of expression in China in PDF format | Download the action Defend online freedom of expression in China in RTF format
Amnesty International is concerned about the ways Microsoft may be aiding the repression of freedom to information and expression in China. According to recent reports, Microsoft's search engine blocks searches under key words such as "freedom", "democracy", "human rights", "Falun Gong", and "demonstration", among others. Users of Microsoft Spaces are also prohibited from using these and other words on the weblogs they create. Download the action Microsoft: Don't Assist Human Rights Abuses! in PDF format | Download the action Microsoft: Don't Assist Human Rights Abuses! in RTF format
Early in 2006 Google launched a self-censoring Chinese search engine, google.cn, that blocks search results for topics such as human rights, political reform, Tiananmen Square and Falun Gong, among others. Amnesty International is concerned about the ways Google is aiding the repression of freedom to information and expression in China, and the implications this may have for the way the company operates everywhere in the world.
Shi Tao, a Chinese journalist, is serving a ten-year prison sentence for sending an email to the U.S. Yahoo! helped put him there. They provided information to the Chinese Government, which led to his unjust imprisonment. Yahoo! needs to hear from people like you and me in droves. And they need to hear from us today. Tell Yahoo! that we won't stand for violating privacy and ask them to use their influence to secure Shi Tao's release.
