Appeals Court Upholds 10-Year Sentence for Journalist Shi Tao

The High People's Court in Hunan province upheld on June 2 a lower court's conviction of journalist Shi Tao for disclosing state secrets, according to Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists. On April 27, the Changsha Intermediate People's Court found Shi guilty and sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment. Guo Guoting, Shi's attorney, was not permitted to defend Shi because Chinese authorities had revoked Guo's law license on February 24, and then placed him under house arrest in mid-March. Shi was detained in November 2004 as part of a Chinese government crackdown on writers, journalists, and intellectuals. According to Reporters Without Borders Shi was arrested formally on January 28 for sending the online newspaper, Minzhu Tongxun, the summary of a document that Chinese authorities sent to his newspaper "warning journalists of the dangers of social destabilization and risks linked to the return of certain dissidents on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre."

China's state secrets laws, and national security laws generally, are broad and vague, and Chinese authorities often use them to prosecute writers and journalists for legitimately exercising the freedom of expression guaranteed to them by the Chinese Constitution and international law.