The World Organisation for Human Rights USA, which had assisted in legal action agianst Yahoo in California over complicity in “major human rights buses in China”, said in a statement that the company had settled out of court.
The case had generated a growing public backlash, making the company the subject of intense political pressure from the US congress in the past weeks.
Details of the settlement have been kept private, but are thought to include a commitment from Yahoo to provide financial support to the families of the jailed men; to help secure the release of the men; and to reconsider the way it handles certain requests for information from authorities.
“Yahoo had handed over the identifying internet user information of well-known Chinese journalist Shi Tao, and pro-democracy writer Wang Xiaoning, to Chinese authorities, who sought to punish the two men for having done nothing more than expressed their free speech rights – rights that are, ironically, recognised under the Chinese constitution,” Human Rights USA said in the statement.
“As a result of Yahoo's cooperation with Chinese authorities, the two men were subjected to arbitrary arrest, long-term detention, abuse, and torture while imprisoned in China,” the statement read.
“Both men are serving 10-year sentences under the highly dubious charges of ‘subversion of state power’ and ‘sharing state secrets’ – vague charges whose underlying purpose is to detain individuals who make statements unfavourable to the Chinese government.”
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