A Chinese dissident convicted of subversion based on evidence provided by U.S. Internet giant Yahoo! Inc. was released from prison on Friday after serving a 10-year term, his wife said.
Wang Xiaoning, 62, became a figure of controversy after a Beijing court named Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) as the source of evidence that led to his 2003 conviction, in a public relations disaster for the company.
Mr. Wang was released from prison in the early hours of Friday "in a good mental and physical state", his wife Yu Ling said.
"I'm really happy my husband is home," she said, speaking by telephone from the couple's home in Beijing, where she said her husband was resting after his release.
She added that Mr. Wang should never have served a prison sentence for distributing essays that advocated democratic reform and criticized China's one-party Communist rule using his Yahoo! email account.
"He didn't commit any crime," Ms. Yu said."He just expressed his own opinions."
Yahoo! executives who testified before U.S. Congress said they were legally obliged to divulge information about their users to the Chinese government and that they were unaware it would be used to convict dissidents.
The company also provided evidence in the case of poet and activist Shi Tao, who was sentenced to 10 years for leaking state secrets in 2005 after he sent an email overseas containing information on a crackdown on democracy advocates.
Yahoo! later apologized and in 2007 paid compensation to Mr. Wang's wife after the World Organization for Human Rights lodged a lawsuit that also named Mr. Shi.
Chinese authorities will suspend Mr. Wang's political rights for two more years and "may continue to place restrictions" on him, Ms. Yu said, without giving specifics. Mr. Wang wasn't available for interview.
Ms. Yu refused to say how much money Yahoo! paid in compensation, but said she was impressed with the U.S. Congress and court system during her visit to the U.S. in 2007 as part of the lawsuit.
...Source: http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=476004
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