British prisoner in China freed on medical grounds

Shanghai, June 10 (IANS/EFE) British private investigator Peter Humphrey, sentenced in 2014 to two-and-a-half years of imprisonment in China for obtaining illegal information, has been released on medical grounds.

The South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday that Humphrey's son, Harvey Humphrey, confirmed that despite still having seven months of sentence left, his father had been admitted to a hospital in Shanghai for medical reasons and would be deported after discharge.

Humphrey was sentenced in August 2014. In China, jail sentence is counted from the time of arrest which took place in the summer of 2013, and so he had nearly completed his sentence.

His partner and wife, American Yu Yingzeng, was also sentenced to two years in prison which she will complete in July.

Both were considered guilty of using illegal means to obtain personal information from different Chinese citizens for their inquiries.

Their case was discovered during the investigation of a corruption scandal of the British pharmaceutical GSK that bribed doctors and hospitals to sell more in China.

According to the newspaper, Humphrey was informed on Tuesday that his sentence had been reduced by the Chinese authorities and that the British consulate was preparing an emergency passport for his possible deportation.

Apparently, Humphrey has been hospitalized for weeks undergoing medical tests for cancer.

--IANS/EFE

ab/mr