China releases journalist early, charges 2 more

BEIJING, Oct 23: China has granted early release to a journalist jailed in June for a year for extortion and charged two Internet writers with inciting subversion, press watchdog Reporters Without Borders said today.

China, which employs an estimated 30,000 people to trawl Web sites for subversive material, is the world's leading jailer of journalists, with at least 32 in custody, and another 50 Internet campaigners also in prison, according to Reporters Without Borders.

Yang Xiaoqing, based in the central province of Hunan, had been in detention since January after reporting corruption among local officials, but despite his release, his conviction was not overturned.

''It is an unjust verdict, and I refuse to accept it because I am totally innocent as I was just doing my job,'' Yang told Reuters.

Reporters Without Borders called Yang's release a ''half-measure that fails to cover up the fact that he was imprisoned for several months without reason''.

Yang was among a number of journalists in jail in China, sentenced on what press freedom groups say are trumped up charges after reports that fall afoul of the country's Communist authorities.

China formally charged two Internet writers last week with ''inciting subversion of state authority'', Reporters Without Borders said.

Zhang Jianhong, the founder and editor of literary news Web site ''Agean Sea'' that was closed in March, was arrested in the eastern province of Zhejiang in September.

Zhang, 48, who often writes under the pseudonym Li Hong, has also contributed to several US-based Chinese-language Web sites, including the Falun Gong-linked Epoch Times.

The second Internet writer charged was Chen Shuqing, a member of the banned China Democracy Party.

Both have been previously detained for posting articles on the Internet advocating political reforms.

REUTERS