Christian bookstore owner Shi Weihan, who was found guilty of "illegal business operation" more than three years ago, has been released from a Chinese prison.

After completing a three-year prison term in the Haidian Detention Center outside of Beijing, Weihan was released Feb. 9, according to China Aid Association, a U.S.-based watchdog group, Baptist Press (BP) reported.

Weihan, now 40, was arrested in November 2007 after his Holy Spirit Trading Co. printed Bibles and other Christian materials that were not approved by the Chinese government. He did not necessarily need permission from the government because he was giving away the materials rather than selling them, BP reported.

In January 2008, Weihan was released due to insufficient evidence on illegal business practices, but was arrested again two months later and held with virtually no communication with his family or attorney.

A diabetic, Weihan was sentenced in June 2009 to three years in prison and fined nearly $22,000 for illegal business operation. Supporters believed that he would be released in November 2010, three years after his original arrest, but he was not, BP reported.

But the founder of the first Christian private school in Beijing told China Aid last fall that Weihan's wife, Zhang Jing, reported that her husband was "doing fine and will be released in the coming February."

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