China frees yet another prisoner

NEW YORK, May 11: China has released a leading religious prisoner in another apparent attempt to ease human rights criticism ahead of US President Bill Clinton’s visit to China in June, a US religious leader said.

Roman Catholic Bishop Zeng Jingmu, 78, of Shanghai was freed yesterday six months before the end of his three-year sentence for holding unauthorized services in a private home, New York Rabbi Arthur Schneier said yesterday.

Schneier, one of three US clerics who visited China in February, said Zeng "was very much on top of our list" of religious leaders believed to have been detained for reasons of faith.