[NYTr] China frees NY Times researcher

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

BBC - Sep 15, 2007 via rick kissell
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/6996128.stm

China frees NY Times researcher

A Chinese journalist working for "The New York Times" has been freed 
after almost three years in jail in China.

Zhao Yan was arrested in 2004 and later charged with leaking state 
secrets, prompting condemnation from human rights groups and Western 
governments.

That charge was dropped but he was then convicted of defrauding an 
official of $2,500 - a charge he has always denied.

On his release, he was met by friends and relatives including his 
sister, who said he was in good spirits.

Zhao Yan was released from prison early on Saturday morning, but chose 
not to make any kind of statement.

Reporting restrictions

Mr Zhao, 45, works as a research assistant for "The New York Times" in 
China.

He was detained by state security forces in September 2004 after writing 
a short note about political rivalries among China's leaders.

Mr Zhao is thought to have originally been detained in connection with
a "New York Times" report about plans by ex-President Jiang Zemin to 
retire from his top military post.

At the time, Mr Jiang's intention would have been a closely guarded 
secret, and any leak regarded as a serious offence.

Mr Zhao was eventually sentenced to three years for fraud, and those 
three years are now up.

"The New York Times" says that it is delighted Zhao Yan has been
released, says the BBC's James Reynolds, in Beijing.

The newspaper says that his only offence seems to have been practising 
journalism, while human rights organisations say that this case 
demonstrates how hard it is for Chinese journalists to report what is 
really going on in the country, he adds.

China is currently detaining more than 80 Chinese journalists and 
bloggers, according to the rights group Reporters Without Borders.