Lee Wei
Calling the trial "a test case for press freedom in Asia", The Committee to Protect Journalists filed an amicus brief on the pair's behalf, as did ten major US media companies. The Kuomintang called a special meeting to endorse the libel suit and condemn Shieh and Chan. However, a Taiwanese district court ruled in the pair's favor on 22 April 1997. The ruling was "hailed as a landmark decision" for press freedom by media watchdog groups, in part because Judge Lee Wei-shen's decision acknowledged the constitutional right to a free press for the first time in Taiwanese judicial history.