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Editor Yu Huafeng released early from jail in Guangdong

The editor of a Chinese newspaper known for its aggressive reporting has been released early from prison after serving four years on corruption charges, a colleague at his newspaper and a journalists' group said yesterday.

Yu Huafeng (喻華峰) left a prison in the city of Panyu, Guangdong Province, on Friday and immediately returned to his nearby home, according to a receptionist at the Southern Metropolitan Daily and the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders group.

The operator refused to give her name and said she had no details.

LATEST RELEASE

Yu was the third prominent journalist detained in China to gain release this month, following Li Changqing (李長青), the former editor of the Fuzhou Daily, and Ching Cheong (程翔), a Hong Kong-based correspondent for Singapore's Straits Times newspaper.

Reporters Without Borders said the releases showed that Beijing was responding to pressure and the group urged campaigners to step up efforts ahead of the Beijing Summer Olympic Games in August.

Yu's release "clearly shows that campaigns of support for imprisoned journalists and cyber-dissidents can be successful," Reporters Without Borders said in an e-mailed statement.

BEATING DEATH

Yu was arrested in 2004 after his newspaper reported the beating death of a man in detention that prompted the government to limit some police powers. The newspaper also broke the news of a case of SARS before Beijing reported it to the WHO.

While Yu and colleague Li Minying (李民英) were sentenced for embezzlement and graft, many believed the charges were trumped up by vengeful officials who had been embarrassed by the reports.

More than 2,000 Chinese journalists petitioned for the men's release in 2005, saying that they had been wrongly convicted.

REDUCED TWICE

Yu was originally given a 12-year sentence, but that was reduced on two occasions. Li was released last year.

Another editor had been released earlier following five months of detention without being indicted.

Despite the releases, China has continued to detain writers and political opponents in defiance of international criticism.

Earlier this month, the democracy activist and anti-graft campaigner Lu Gengsong (呂耿松) was sentenced to four years in prison on charges of subversion, and well-known dissident Hu Jia (胡佳) was formally arrested on a charge of inciting subversion.
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