Published by: China News Digest, CND Extra Report Sunday, November 16, 1997

Reported by: Bo XIONG, Wei LIN, Yanan WU, 11/16/97

The Chinese government has just released the most prominent dissident WEI Jingsheng on Sunday morning Beijing time. His younger brother WEI Xiaotao told a Hong Kong TV station that WEI Jingsheng was put on a Northwest Airline flight at 10:30am directly from Beijing to Detroit, USA. WEI Xiatao said that "The family is very happy. He is in high spirits." "He is going to Detroit for medical treatment. ... He wants to come back one day," the brother added. His sister WEI Shanshan is flying Sunday from Germany to US to meet him.

Wei is freed on medical parole in about two weeks after Chinese President JIANG Zemin's state visit to the US. Before, during and after Jiang's visit, WEI Jingsheng's name has been mentioned many times along with China's human rights conditions by US officials and overseas media in many occasions. In the past two years, the US government and international society have been pressing the Chinese government to release dissidents, including Wei and another student leader, WANG Dan. Wang's mother said on Sunday that Wang was still in jail.

WEI Jingsheng, 47-year-old, served about two years of his second 14-year sentence on charges of plotting to subvert the Chinese government.