China 'releases' bible smuggler

Li Guangqiang from Hong Kong received two years

A Hong Kong businessman who was recently sentenced to two years in prison for smuggling bibles into China will be allowed to serve his sentence temporarily outside jail, but under surveillance.

Chinese state media reported a court in Fujian Province had made its decision on the ground that Li Guangqiang was suffering from hepatitis B.

The businessman, convicted along with two other men, was involved with smuggling the bibles to a group called the Shouters, a evangelical group in south-eastern China thus named because they shout out their devotion.

The case threatens to disrupt the planned visit to Beijing later this month by US President George W Bush. The US State Department has raised concerns about human rights in China in the wake of the convictions.

Li Guangqiang was placed at the top of Washington's list of dissidents it wanted released after his arrest last May.

He was originally accused of spreading "an evil cult" - a crime that can carry the death penalty in China.

But in January this year the charges were suddenly downgraded to charges of illegal trading. Correspondents say US pressure could have been behind the change.