An Australian businessman jailed in China on bribery and embezzlement charges before being sent home to serve out his sentence was released Wednesday on compassionate grounds.
Matthew Ng, who worked for travel services group Et-China in the southern city of Guangzhou, was jailed for 13 years in 2011 in a case that drew top level interest in Canberra.
Chinese media at the time said the case related to Ng's role in Et-China's battle with a government-owned travel company for control of domestic travel agency GZL.
In 2014 Ng, who denied the charges, became the first Australian to benefit from a prisoner swap deal between the two countries.
Australia's department of foreign affairs has previously warned that any early release could negatively affect future cases, but Justice Minister Michael Keenan said there were "exceptional circumstances".
"Mr Ng applied for early release from prison based on his exceptional family circumstances," he said. "I am satisfied exceptional circumstances exist to justify Mr Ng's early release from prison."
Since he was jailed, Ng's wife Niki Chow has been diagnosed with breast cancer and one of his four children has reportedly died.
Ng's lawyer Tom Lennox told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation last week his client was Australia's first Chinese political prisoner.
"A fair description of Matthew can be as Australia's first Chinese political prisoner — that is, the subject of a state-imposed sanction whereby your liberty is denied for circumstances that would not constitute a crime on any reasonable test," he said.
Ng's arrest came just months after four employees of Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto, including Australian passport-holder Stern Hu, were jailed in China on bribery and trade secrets charges.
Hu's trial strained relations between Beijing and Canberra, and stoked concerns among foreign investors about the rule of law in China, Australia's top trading partner.
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