Alexa whistleblower Tang Mingfang has revealed that he was tortured before being jailed by Chinese authorities. This comes after Tang exposed the illegal working conditions in a factory where Amazon’s Alexa devices were made.
Describing the condition he said that he was beaten by his interrogators, handcuffed in stress positions until he agreed to sign a confession. “I refused to sign seven times, and they got angry and handcuffed me to the bottom of the iron frame, unable to stand, squat, sit; only bending, half squatting all night. In the early morning, I could not stand anymore,” he said.
Tang revealed that the Hengyang based factory used schoolchildren and made them work for illegally long hours to manufacture Amazon’s popular products including Echo, Echo Dot and Kindle devices.
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Tang has claimed that his father died while he was in prison and he would have wanted him to speak up when he saw the abuse of young workers. In a report by The Observer, he said, “My father always taught me that I should be a good person and, because I followed my heart and believed that justice should be served, I reported the serious violations at Hengyang Foxconn. Yet my imprisonment has caused such great harm to me and my family.”
After spending two years in prison, he is now appealing to the higher courts to clear his name.
Tang has decided to talk publicly even after being aware of the risks as he believes that Amazon and its founder, Jeff Bezos, have a responsibility to support his appeal.
Amazon spokesperson, while speaking to the Observer said, “We do not tolerate violations of our supply chain standards. We regularly assess suppliers, using independent auditors as appropriate, to monitor continued compliance and improvement – if we find violations, we take appropriate steps, including requesting immediate corrective action.”
(With inputs from agencies)
