China released a Hong Kong businessman jailed for Bible...

China released a Hong Kong businessman jailed for Bible smuggling, following intense diplomatic pressure from America in the run-up to a visit to Beijing by President Bush.
Lai Guangqiang returned home, after being released on "medical" grounds.
The Fuqing Municipal Court in Fujian province ruled that because he had hepatitis B, he did not need to serve his two-year sentence in a mainland prison.
Lai was jailed in January for arranging to have more than 30,000 Bibles smuggled to the "Shouters", an underground evangelical sect. He originally faced the more serious charge of "using an evil cult to undermine the enforcement of law", which carries a possible death penalty.
Speaking publicly for the first time on his return to Hong Kong, Lai, 38, thanked US President George W. Bush for helping to secure his freedom.
"Since two of my colleagues were convicted on similar charges, I hope they would be freed as well," he said at a press conference.
"The officials who arrested and sentenced me were only carrying out the laws of China and I must respect that and I will not smuggle Bibles into the mainland again."
Mainlanders Lin Xifu and Yu Zhudi were jailed for three years for helping Lai to smuggle the Bibles into the mainland in April and May 2001.
Chinese Christians may worship only in state-approved churches. An estimated 16 Christian groups have been banned as "cults" under draconian laws introduced to crush the Falun Gong mystic healing group. China frequently releases dissidents before state visits or important UN votes.