A Yahoo executive gave false testimony to Congress about his company's role in the arrest of a Chinese journalist, a U.S. Congressional Committee claims.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee wants Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and his company's General Counsel, Michael Callahan, to explain their actions in a hearing set for November 6th. This comes after the alleged false testimony Callahan gave Congress in February 2006. In an e-mail, the Chairman of the Committee wants to know how that happened and what action the company has taken since then to protect the privacy rights of its users in China.

Yahoo says that the Committee's accusation is "grossly unfair" and "mischaracterises the nature and intent of our past testimony."

The row follows the publication of documents by the Dui Hua Foundation that proved that the Beijing State Security Bureau had written Yahoo, indicating it wanted evidence about journalist Shi Tao, who was suspected of "illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities."