China releases five dissidents

PEKING (AFP) - China has freed five dissidents and will soon show videos of three prominent jailed activists to the United Nations, a US human rights activist said yesterday.

The moves reflected a move away from China's refusal to provide information on dissidents towards a more open and less heavy-handed aproach, John Kamm said after meeting officials. The five were named as Gu Bin and Yang Zhou, founders of an underground human rights group, Zhu Jianbin, a writer, Xie Moshan, an underground evangelist, and Song Yude, a Protestant leader who was released in April.