San Francisco: A fund set up by Yahoo to atone for revealing "cyber dissidents" to Chinese officials is aiding people jailed there for human rights views posted on the Internet, its overseer has said.
Harry Wu, a widely-known Chinese dissident who spent 19 years in labour camps for voicing his opinions, declined to say how much money is in the Yahoo Human Rights Fund he is administering with the help of a board of directors.
"We want to help the Chinese live better," Wu told reporters yesterday while discussing the fund. "I'm not sure how much of an impact we will have, but we will try."
The fund is intended to pay for legal aid and family support for dissidents jailed for human rights views expressed on the Internet, especially using Yahoo services, according to Wu.
Money from the fund will also pay to educate people inside and outside China about human rights conditions in that country, Wu said. "We really focus on human rights violations inside China," said Wu, who now lives in the United States and runs Laogai Research Foundation, named after a Chinese word meaning re-education through labour.
"This includes organ transplants, public execution, Laogai camps, religious freedom, export products and dissidents fighting for their rights." Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang announced the fund in November after the California Internet firm reached a settlement with the families of jailed dissidents Shi Tao and Wang Xiaoning to stop a lawsuit.
