Beijing - China released US-based pro-democracy activist
Yang Jianli Friday after he served five years in prison for alleged
spying, his lawyer said.
Officials in Beijing had freed Yang upon the completion of his
full five-year sentence, his lawyer Mo Shaoping told Deutsche
Presse-Agentur dpa.
Yang planned to visit his father's tomb in the eastern province of
Shandong before returning to the United States 'as soon as possible,'
Mo said.
He is deprived of political rights for an additional year, meaning
that 'in principle he is not allowed to talk to the media,' Mo said.
Yang was convicted of spying for Taiwan and illegally entering
China.
He was sentenced to five years in prison in May 2004, following a
closed trial in August 2003.
But the sentence was backdated to April 2002, when China arrested
Yang, who had been banned from entering China after taking part in
the 1989 pro-democracy movement.
Yang had worked as a research fellow at Harvard University in the
United States and was the head of the US-based Foundation for China
in the 21st Century until his arrest.
China's government-run Xinhua news agency said Yang had entered
China using a false passport and used a false Chinese identity card
to carry out his alleged spying.
China said Yang was first directed in 1991 by a 'Taiwan spy
organization' in San Francisco to collect confidential papers of the
Chinese government, and alleged that he later established his own spy
agency with funds from Taiwan.
His arrest drew fierce criticism from human rights groups and US
politicians.
After his two-year detention without trial, dozens of US
Congress members sent a letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao
demanding Yang's release.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
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