Chinese dissident freed

A Chinese dissident, Zhou Guoqiang, has been released from a labour camp in the northern province of Heilongjiang, according to friends and fellow pro-democracy activists.

Zhou, who is a lawyer, had almost completed a four year sentence, imposed in 1994 for inciting turmoil and disrupting social order.

Correspondents say Zhou has returned to Beijing, where he has been reunited with his wife.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service