Journalist Wu Shishen Released After More Than 12 Years in Prison

Chinese authorities released journalist Wu Shishen from Beijing's main prison in July, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) reported on August 2. Police detained Wu and his wife, Ma Tao, in Beijing in October 1992 and accused Wu of providing an advance copy of a speech by Jiang Zemin to a journalist for the Hong Kong Express (Kuaibao). In August 1993, the Beijing Intermediate People's Court sentenced Wu to life imprisonment for selling state secrets (his wife received a six-year sentence). In November 2004, the Dui Hua Foundation reported that officials had granted Wu a sentence reduction, and that his release was expected on July 10, 2005.

According to RWB, Wu, an editor for the domestic news department of Xinhua at the time of his detention, will continue to be deprived of his civil and political rights for eight more years, and is therefore prohibited from writing articles or speaking in public about matters relating to "national interest."