(CNN) -- Yahoo misled Congress regarding information the Internet company gave to Chinese authorities about the journalist Shi Tao, Democratic Rep. Tom Lantos said Tuesday.
Yahoo officials have been asked to testify before a House committee in November about a Chinese journalist's case.
Lantos, a California representative and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, asked Yahoo Inc. officials to testify about the company's role in a case that sent Chinese newspaper writer and editor Shi to prison on a 10-year sentence.
Lantos asked Yahoo Chief Executive Officer Jerry Yang and Senior Vice President and General Counsel Michael Callahan to appear November 6.
"Our committee has established that Yahoo provided false information to Congress in early 2006," Lantos said in a written statement. "We want to clarify how that happened, and to hold the company to account for its actions both before and after its testimony proved untrue. And we want to examine what steps the company has taken since then to protect the privacy rights of its users in China."
The newspaper reporter had posted information under a pseudonym on an overseas Web site called Democracy Forum about a government crackdown on media and democracy activists, Lantos said.
Shi was later arrested in his home in Beijing after Yahoo gave Chinese authorities information about his e-mail account, his computer address, his log-on history and the contents of several weeks of his e-mail, Lantos said.
Lantos said a Yahoo official testified last year that the company knew nothing "about the nature of the investigation" of Shi, a pro-democracy activist now serving time on what Lantos called "trumped-up charges."
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"We have now learned there is much more to the story than Yahoo let on, and a Chinese government document that Yahoo had in their possession at the time of the hearing left little doubt of the government's intentions," said Republican Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey.
"U.S. companies must hold the line and not work hand in glove with the secret police."
In a written statement, Yahoo spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said Yahoo representatives have been truthful with Congress. He called the House committee's accusation "grossly unfair" and said it "mischaracterizes the nature and intent of our past testimony."
During a February 2006 subcommittee hearing on limits to freedom on the Internet in China, Lantos and Smith questioned Callahan about Shi.
Callahan testified to the subcommittee that Yahoo handed over the information to Chinese authorities at a time when it knew nothing about the investigation, Lantos said.
But the San Francisco, California-based human-rights group The Dui Hua Foundation released documents in July indicating police in China had written to Yahoo saying they were seeking evidence about Shi for illegally "providing state secrets to foreign entities," a charge frequently levied against political dissidents in China.
"This new documentation suggests that Yahoo's Beijing office was at least aware of the general nature of the crime being investigated in the Shi Tao case," said Joshua Rosenzweig, manager of research and publications for The Dui Hua Foundation.
Even if Yahoo was unaware of the specific circumstances of the Chinese government's inquiry, "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," said Rosenzweig.
Shi has appealed his 10-year sentence for divulging state secrets, saying he did not know the information he shared was classified. He accused the police of using improper procedures in the investigation and arrest.
In addition, he has filed suit in U.S. federal court against Yahoo and its Hong Kong-based subsidiary.
Yahoo's spokeswoman said the company is working with other companies and the human rights community "to develop a global code of conduct for operating in countries around the world, including China."
Five people arrested for karaoke!
11/10/2007
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0 comment(s)
SMASH EDO PRESS RELEASE
10TH OCTOBER 2007
Press Contact Andrew Beckett or Sarah Johnson 07875 708873
5 PEOPLE ARRESTED FOR KARAOKE!
Police arrested 5 people during a peaceful demonstration outside a
Brighton-based arms manufacturer today. Thirty people turned out to
demonstrate against the factory during a themed ‘Bad Karaoke’
demonstration. Over 40 police were present.
The police used a local byelaw to seize the karaoke machine and
arrested 5 people, during a rendition of “We are the champions”
one of them aged only 16. Although members of a BBC film crew were
present this did not stop the police from aggressively arresting 3
more people. Police then surrounded protesters and pushed them away
from the site of their regular Wednesday demonstrations to the bottom
of the road.
Sarah Johnson said “We have been protesting outside this factory
for four years. This is the most heavy handed policing we’ve seen
outside this factory in over two years. Arms dealers EDO have used
Sussex police as their rotweillers before and their efforts have
ended in failure and humiliation for the company. This is a desperate
act by a failing company. The community has shown time and again that
this aggression will not silence us. We will continue to protest
against EDO until it has been shut down.”
Press Contact Andrew Beckett or Sarah Johnson 07875 708873
http://www.smashedo.org.uk
Notes for Journalists
EDO MBM
EDO MBM Technologies Ltd are the sole subsidiary of
huge U.S arms conglomerate EDO Corp. They supply
crucial components for Raytheon's Paveway guided bomb
system, widely used in the "Shock and Awe" campaign in
Iraq.
Campaign against EDO MBM.
EDO MBM makes electrical weapons components for the
Israeli military. EDO MBM manufactures components to
be incorporated into the Hellfire missile, which the
Israeli army has recently used to attack the civilian
population of Gaza . They have organised conferences
on the development of UCAVs, unmanned aircraft which
are widely used in aerial attacks on Gaza . EDO
Corporation, of which EDO MBM Brighton is a wholly
owned trading unit, has a direct contract with the
Israeli Navy who murdered 10 civilians on a beach near
Beit Lahiya, Gaza, earlier this month.
People involved in the anti-EDO campaign include, but
are not limited to: local residents, the Brighton
Quakers, peace activists, anti-capitalists, Palestine
Solidarity groups, human rights groups, trade
unionists, academics and students.
The campaign started in August 2004 with a peace camp.
It's avowed aim is to expose EDO MBM and their
complicity in war crimes and to remove them from
Brighton .
Contact Andrew Beckett or Sarah Johnson For more
details
Email - smashedopress@yahoo.co.uk
10TH OCTOBER 2007
Press Contact Andrew Beckett or Sarah Johnson 07875 708873
5 PEOPLE ARRESTED FOR KARAOKE!
Police arrested 5 people during a peaceful demonstration outside a
Brighton-based arms manufacturer today. Thirty people turned out to
demonstrate against the factory during a themed ‘Bad Karaoke’
demonstration. Over 40 police were present.
The police used a local byelaw to seize the karaoke machine and
arrested 5 people, during a rendition of “We are the champions”
one of them aged only 16. Although members of a BBC film crew were
present this did not stop the police from aggressively arresting 3
more people. Police then surrounded protesters and pushed them away
from the site of their regular Wednesday demonstrations to the bottom
of the road.
Sarah Johnson said “We have been protesting outside this factory
for four years. This is the most heavy handed policing we’ve seen
outside this factory in over two years. Arms dealers EDO have used
Sussex police as their rotweillers before and their efforts have
ended in failure and humiliation for the company. This is a desperate
act by a failing company. The community has shown time and again that
this aggression will not silence us. We will continue to protest
against EDO until it has been shut down.”
Press Contact Andrew Beckett or Sarah Johnson 07875 708873
http://www.smashedo.org.uk
Notes for Journalists
EDO MBM
EDO MBM Technologies Ltd are the sole subsidiary of
huge U.S arms conglomerate EDO Corp. They supply
crucial components for Raytheon's Paveway guided bomb
system, widely used in the "Shock and Awe" campaign in
Iraq.
Campaign against EDO MBM.
EDO MBM makes electrical weapons components for the
Israeli military. EDO MBM manufactures components to
be incorporated into the Hellfire missile, which the
Israeli army has recently used to attack the civilian
population of Gaza . They have organised conferences
on the development of UCAVs, unmanned aircraft which
are widely used in aerial attacks on Gaza . EDO
Corporation, of which EDO MBM Brighton is a wholly
owned trading unit, has a direct contract with the
Israeli Navy who murdered 10 civilians on a beach near
Beit Lahiya, Gaza, earlier this month.
People involved in the anti-EDO campaign include, but
are not limited to: local residents, the Brighton
Quakers, peace activists, anti-capitalists, Palestine
Solidarity groups, human rights groups, trade
unionists, academics and students.
The campaign started in August 2004 with a peace camp.
It's avowed aim is to expose EDO MBM and their
complicity in war crimes and to remove them from
Brighton .
Contact Andrew Beckett or Sarah Johnson For more
details
Email - smashedopress@yahoo.co.uk
From Iraq to Burma: Hypocrisy
02/10/2007
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0 comment(s)
From Iraq To Burma: Hypocrisy
Rules The West
By Paul Craig Roberts
01 October, 2007
Countercurrents.org
Shame has vanished from Western "civilization." Hypocrisy has taken its place.
On September 28, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown could be heard on National Public Radio decrying the use of violence against democratic protesters by the government in Burma. Brown declared the British people's revulsion over the violence inflicted by the Burmese government on its people. But Brown said nothing about the violence the British government was inflicting on Iraqis and Afghans.
George W. Bush also struck the blameless pose when he declared: "The world is watching the people of Burma take to the streets to demand their freedom, and the American people stand in solidarity with these brave individuals."
Bush and Brown do not have the same sympathy for the peoples of Iraq and Afghanistan. Neither Bush nor Brown stand in solidarity with those who are demanding their freedom from foreign occupation by American and British troops. Indeed, Bush and Brown, as commanders in chief, are on a killing spree that makes the government in Burma look extremely restrained by comparison.
Why were British soldiers sent to kill Iraqis and Afghans? September 11 had nothing whatsoever to do with the UK. No doubt but that the corrupt Tony Blair was paid off to drag the British people into Bush's Middle East war for American/Israeli hegemony, but Brown has done nothing to terminate Bush's use of the British military as mercenaries.
The NPR announcers also supported the Burmese people, but they, too, show little disturbance over Bush's five-year old wars that we now know were based entirely on lies. Al Qaeda is not the Taliban, and Iraq had no WMD. Neither country was a threat to the US. Now that we know this, why does the media still give Bush and Brown a free pass to use violence against Iraqis and Afghans?
To cut to the chase, what is the difference between Bush and Brown on one hand and the murderous Burmese government on the other? Bush and Brown are actually worse. They pretend to be democrats concerned with what people actually want. The Burmese government doesn't pretend to be anything but a military dictatorship. Moreover, the Burmese government is clean by comparison as it hasn't committed acts of naked aggression--war crimes under the Nuremberg standard--by invading other countries and attempting to occupy them.
Despite all the killing Bush has accomplished, he thirsts for yet more blood. Iran is in his and Israel's sights. All indications are that Bush is going to attack Iran. Propaganda, demonizations, and crass lies are pouring out of the Bush regime and its media and academic propagandists such as Columbia University president Lee Bollinger. Both parties in Congress have lined up behind the coming attack on Iran. The despicable senator Joe Lieberman even snuck language into a bill to give Bush the go ahead.
Who is going to stop Bush from a third war crime? Not his vice president, Not his national security adviser, not his secretary of defense. Not his secretary of state. Not Congress. Not the US military. Not the corporate fat cats. Not the Israel Lobby. Not the bought and paid for "allies." Not the anti-war movement. Not the American people. Certainly not the media.
Americans are content with whatever crimes their government commits as long as the justification is Americans' safety.
Americans' willingness to murder others out of fear for their own safety is a result of September 11. The antiwar movement is impotent, because it has accepted the government's 9/11 story. To oppose a war when you accept the government's reason for the war is an indefensible position.
The Bush regime knows that if people will believe its 9/11 story, they will believe anything. Propaganda silences facts, and Americans fall for one set of falsehoods after another. The alleged 9/11 hijackers all came from countries allied with the US, principally Saudi Arabia, but Americans believe the government's lies that Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, and Syria are responsible. Americans have been convinced that without "regime change" in these countries, the American superpower will remain helpless in face of stateless Muslims armed with box cutters.
Americans have been brainwashed to believe that Muslims hate us for our "freedom and democracy," whereas in fact the problem is the US government's immoral foreign policy and interference in the internal affairs of Muslim countries. Bush's message to the Middle East is clear: Be a puppet state or be destroyed.
In the meantime, to prevent democracy and civil liberties from getting in the way of making Americans safe, Bush has set aside habeas corpus, due process, right to legal representation, privacy, and the separation of powers mandated by the US Constitution. Otherwise, Bush says, we will lose the "war on terror."
Bush says he has made Americans safe by ridding them of these constitutional impediments to their safety. And once American bombs fall on Iran and Syria, those countries will be free and democratic, too, like Iraq and Afghanistan.
In leading Americans to this conclusion, Bush has sunk the United States to a new low in human intelligence and morality.
Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.He can be reached at: PaulCraigRoberts@yahoo.com
AL-HAQ PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
REF: 24.2007E
18 September 2007
UK High Court of Justice to Hear Legal Challenge
on UK Sale of Arms-Related Equipment to Israel
A full public hearing will be held before the UK High Court of Justice in London on 10 -11 October 2007 in the case of R (Saleh Hasan) v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. Following the blanket refusal by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to respond to the claimant’s request for a justification of UK policy on arms-related sales to Israel, the High Court will hear arguments in a claim filed on 15 November 2006 by UK Solicitor Phil Shiner of Public Interest Lawyers (PIL), in cooperation with Al-Haq.
PIL will argue that the UK’s sale of arms-related equipment to Israel is in breach of UK obligations under international law as well as UK statutory law, specifically, the UK Export Control Act of 2002, which incorporates the “consolidated criteria” governing the export of military equipment. According to these criteria, the UK government may not issue export licenses to countries where there is a clear risk that the export might be used for “[i]nternal repression…in violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms as set out in relevant international human rights instruments” or where export would be “inconsistent with…the UK’s international obligations”. The “consolidated criteria” also makes clear that “special caution and vigilance” should be exercised in the case of prospective arms-related sales to countries where serious human rights violations have been established by competent bodies.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest judicial authority in the United Nations, in its 2004 advisory opinion on the legality of the Israeli Annexation Wall definitively established that Israel’s human rights record is severely compromised. The Court declared the illegality of the construction of the Wall and its associated regime in the West Bank under both international human rights and humanitarian law. The ICJ called for its dismantling and found that all States have a legal obligation to neither recognise the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the Wall nor render any aid or assistance in maintaining the situation.
The claimant, Saleh Hasan, a 60-year old resident of Bethlehem, is one of tens of thousands of Palestinians who until now have found no effective remedy for Israel’s unlawful acts. In 2005, Israel used military equipment to bulldoze agricultural assets and permanently confiscate his land in order to make way for the Wall. That same year, one year after the ICJ advisory opinion on the Wall, the UK’s arms-related exports to Israel saw a two-fold increase.
PIL will argue that the UK government had and continues to have clear evidence from authoritative international bodies that Israel might use equipment imported from the UK for purposes prohibited under the “consolidated criteria.” As such PIL will seek a declaration from the High Court that in future the UK Government must be transparent about how it has satisfied itself that there is no risk of a breach of these criteria and to make publicly available information that establishes there is no risk of any arms related products from the UK being used for repressive purposes. In the absence of any legal justification for continuing its current policy, Al-Haq, PIL and Palestinians like Saleh Hasan call on the UK government to suspend all arms-related exports to Israel until such time as Israel complies in full with its obligations under international law.
This hearing is of great significance, and any support you can offer is most welcome. Aside from actually attending the hearing, it would be greatly appreciated if you could forward this letter to any other parties you think may be interested. Al-Haq is in the process of organising various public meetings prior to the hearing. Please do not hesitate to contact haq@alhaq.org if you have any questions, comments or require further information pertaining to the case.
- Ends -
========================
For a listing of all events on Palestine in the UK please visit the PSC website: www.palestinecampaign.org
========================
Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Box BM PSA
London
WC1N 3XX
Email: info@palestinecampaign.org
Tel: 020 7700 6192
Fax: 020 7609 7779
Web: www.palestinecampaign.org
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