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DALIAN, China, Jan 4, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- China has reduced the six-year jail sentence given a journalist, who had written about political corruption due to good behavior and ordered the man released.
The court in Dalian, in northeastern China, ordered Jiang Weiping freed, and was he reunited with family members, the BBC said.
Jiang was sentenced in June 2001 on charges of illegally supplying state secrets and inciting subversion, after he wrote several articles about alleged corruption involving high-level government officials, including the provincial governor, Bo Xilai. Bo is now China's Commerce minister.
The U.S.-based Dui Hua Foundation human rights group said it was likely Jiang would apply for a passport in order to join his wife and daughter, who live in Canada.
But the group said his release could also have been a good-will gesture before a visit to the United States by Chinese President Hu Jintao. He had been due to visit in September, but the visit was canceled in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2006 by United Press International
