China Releases Investigative Reporter

From the Washington Post:

The Chinese government released a prominent investigative reporter from prison Tuesday, even as it has been intensifying a crackdown on the press. The early release appeared intended to mollify the Bush administration, which had included the journalist on a short list of political prisoners whose cases it raises regularly with Chinese officials.
Jiang Weiping, 50, who spent the last five years in prison after writing a series of hard-hitting articles on government corruption for a magazine in Hong Kong, was granted a sentence reduction for good behavior and released one year before his term was set to end, according to his wife, Li Yanling. Several human rights groups had campaigned for Jiang's release, including the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, which honored him with its international press freedom award in 2001.

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--Tom Hayes