Convicted Bible-smuggler returns to Hong Kong

A Hong Kong businessman convicted of smuggling Bibles into China has returned home after being released from prison on health grounds.

Hong Kong Security Bureau officials have been in touch with Lai Kwong-keung's family since his return from China. No other details are available.

George Bush, who is to visit China later this month, had expressed concern about Lai's case and asked the State Department to look into it.

Lai was sentenced last month for bringing thousands of Bibles to a banned Chinese Christian group in May.

Mainlanders Lin Xifu and Yu Zhudi were also convicted along with Lai last month and jailed for three years.

Lai, 38, was convicted of illegally selling foreign publications inside China, although he was initially charged with "using a cult to undermine enforcement of the law."

His arrest came during a crackdown on religious groups operating outside of Beijing's control.

Lai, also known as Li Guangqiang, was detained last May after bringing 33,080 Bibles into China for a group known as the Shouters, which has a half million members in southeast China.

Lai was carrying a version of the Bible edited by a founder of the Shouters. That version is not authorized in China, where the Christian group was banned in 1995 as a cult.

A court in the southeastern Chinese city of Fuqing ruled that Lai can serve at least part of his two-year sentence outside of prison because of his health.