US businessman freed from Chinese jail

Businessman Jude Shao left Qingpu prison in Shanghai on Wednesday to be with his family, the San Francisco-based Dui Hua Foundation said.

Shao graduated from Stanford Business School and started a company in 1993 exporting American medical equipment to China. His supporters said he was arrested in early 1998 after refusing to pay a bribe sought by tax officials and was convicted in 2000.

A panel of six Chinese legal scholars retained by Shao issued an opinion in 2003 that there was insufficient evidence to convict him and said he deserved a new trial. But China's Supreme Court rejected his final appeal.

Dui Hua said Shao had already had his sentence reduced due to good behavior, and his willingness to stay in his birthplace, Shanghai, was an "important" factor in the court's decision to grant parole, the group said.

It was unclear what the terms of the parole were.

"We're incredibly excited mostly for Jude for the opportunity for him to resume his life," said a school friend, Chuck Hoover, who has spent 10 years lobbying for his release. He said Shao had been eligible for parole for over two years.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao did not have details about the release, but said China "always handles relevant cases according to Chinese law."

The release comes just over a month before Beijing hosts the Olympic Games and after the U.S. and China agreed to restart a human rights dialogue aborted in 2002.

But Hoover said he did not know if the games had anything to do with his release.