AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

View Alerts By > Case | Date | Country | Victim

AAAS Human Rights Action Network

FACTS OF THE CASE:

Lin Hai, a Chinese software engineer sentenced to two years in prison for providing 30,000 Chinese e-mail addresses to a US-based, pro-democracy newsletter, has been released six months early. He was quietly released in September 1999, a full six months before the scheduled end of his sentence in March 2000. There is speculation that his silence was a condition of his early release.

Lin Hai is considered the first person in China to be imprisoned for using the Internet to promote democracy. He was charged with "inciting to overthrow state power" in a trial conducted secretly in Shanghai on 4 December 1998. He has admitted to supplying the addresses but says he did so for commercial purposes and was not aware of their final use. The site that received the e-mail addresses is VIP Reference , a Chinese-language pro-democracy newsletter that operates out of the United States to report on dissident activities, human rights, and other issues.

Earlier this year, the Chinese government enacted a strict law that formalizes government control over the flow of information over the Internet. The regulations also prohibit transmission of news that is not officially sanctioned by the government. The government has also recently ordered tighter controls at the growing number of cybercafés in China.

(Sources of information for this update include the Digital Freedom Network, International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), and the Committee to Protect Journalists)

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Many thanks to all of those who sent appeals. No further action is requested at this time.

Main | CSFR Letters | Science and Human Rights Program