Amnesty says two Chinese Internet users were executed

Thirty three people were named as "prisoners of conscience" today, for apparently doing little more than expressing their opinions online.

Two "subversives" have already died in custody, it claimed.

And the statement, which it released today, also warns that overseas companies were colluding in a crack down we first reported last August.

The full report is here.

One paragraph states: "Foreign companies, including Websense and Sun Microsystems, Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks, Microsoft have reportedly provided important technology which helps the Chinese authorities censor the Internet. Nortel Networks along with some other international firms are reported to be providing China with the technology which will help it shift from filtering content at the international gateway level to filtering content of individual computers, in homes, Internet cafes, universities and businesses."

The report asked China - avowedly a police state - to release anyone detained or jailed for using the Internet to express their views or to share information.

American companies are helping China track down people that the government wants to detain for "online subversion".

It has designated 33 people detained for using the Internet as "prisoners of conscience".

Two people have already died in custody, the report said. AI says that anyone surfing the Internet in China could be at risk of "arbitrary detention and imprisonment".

There are around 60 million Internet users in mainland China, with the numbers rising steadily. µ

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