Mao, QingXiang releases dissident, journalist afte
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Date: 9/22/2007 9:19:31 AM
Sender: HRIC
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Dissident journalist Mao, QingXiang released after long detentions
BEIJING -- China has released one of the founders of the banned China Democracy Party after eight years in prison for "subversion."
Mao Qingxiang, 57, said by telephone Saturday he had been freed Friday morning and was in good health.
He said he had no regrets about his time in prison, particularly if it had "advanced the cause of democracy and human rights" in China.
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Zhao Yan, a Chinese journalist jailed while working for the New York Times, is escorted by relatives after he was released from the state security prison in Beijing
Reuters
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Font: ****He said his commitment to his values remained intact, but that he would act in a "reasonable and moderate" manner.
Mao was one of four co-founders of the CDP arrested in May 1999 as they prepared to mark the 10th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
That November, he was sentenced to eight years in jail for writing a party report and sending e-mail messages to Chinese dissidents abroad.
China banned the CDP shortly after it was founded in 1998 and arrested many of its members. Some were later freed and expelled, while others remain in detention.
News of Mao＇s release came as Beijing freed Zhao Yan, a Chinese researcher for the New York Times, after he served three years of a fraud conviction that was strongly criticised by the international community.
Zhao was released from a detention center in Beijing early in the morning, and his sister Zhao Kun added that he was in good health and good spirits.
The 45-year-old researcher thanked his family, friends and employer for their support in a statement issued after his release. He also thanked the media for covering his case.
"These three years I have missed my family very much, especially my maternal grandmother who is now more than 100 years old," he said in the statement. "For that reason I want some time to reunite with my family.
"After a short time, I hope to see many other friends and members of the media. I also plan to make a longer written statement expressing my views at some point in the near future," he added.
Zhao was arrested in September 2004 after the New York Times correctly reported that former president Jiang Zemin was about to resign from his last official post as the country＇s top military leader.
Jiang＇s retirement, while widely expected, was a closely guarded secret.
Zhao was charged with leaking state secrets to the New York Times, which he and the newspaper always denied. He was found not guilty on the charges of leaking state secrets but convicted of fraud.
Zhao＇s case sparked diplomatic rows between China and the United States, with Washington repeatedly calling on Beijing to release him. International human rights groups also demanded his release.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement that Zhao should not have been jailed in the first place.
"His case is emblematic of the Chinese governments willingness to use its highly politicised legal system to restrain both the domestic and international press," said Sophie Richardson, the group＇s Asia advocacy director.
"The Chinese government currently jails more journalists than any other country in the world," Richardson said, adding that all reporters and writers held for trying to speak openly or access information should be freed.
Campaign group Reporters Without Borders said Zhao should have all his rights restored, including the right to work as a journalist.
"The government showed no clemency towards Zhao, who was a scapegoat in an affair of state in which he was not involved," it said in a statement.
At least 35 journalists and 51 cyber-dissidents were in prison in China just for exercising their right to inform, it added.
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