Defacer of Mao's portrait finally released

A journalist jailed for throwing paint-filled eggs at the portrait of Mao Zedong in Tiananmen Square in 1989 has been released, the South China Morning Post reported. Yu Dongyue, who worked in central Hunan province, initially received a 20-year sentence for counter-revolutionary propaganda and incitement but had this reduced in 2000 and again in 2003. He is said to have been tortured and suffered a mental breakdown in prison. Two of Yu's friends also found guilty of defacing the portrait were released in 1998 and 2000. The US-based Dui Hua Foundation estimates that there are 70 dissidents linked to the 1989 protests still in jail.