BEIJING: A Chinese dissident convicted based on evidence provided by US Internet giant Yahoo! was released from prison on Friday after serving a 10-year term for subversion, his wife said.

Wang Xiaoning, who spent a decade in jail for calling for democratic reform in China and criticising one-party rule, was released from prison early Friday “in a good mental and physical state”, his wife Yu Ling said.

The 62-year-old became a cause celebre after a Beijing court named Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) as the source of evidence that led to his 2003 conviction, in a public relations disaster for the company.

Yu said she had “stayed up half the night” in a police station waiting for her husband, after police visited her house to inform her of his release.

“I'm really happy my husband is home,” she said, speaking by telephone from the couple's home in Beijing, where she said her husband was resting after his release.—AFP