A worker jailed for 17 years for his role in the Tiananmen democracy protests has been released early for good behavior, his mother and a rights group said Friday. Zhang Maosheng, 38, sentenced to death with two years reprieve in 1989 was released this month, they said. In China, death with two years reprieve is routinely commuted to life in prison, while such sentences can be further reduced for good behavior.

"Yes he has come home, but I don't think it will do any good for him to speak to journalists," Zhang's mother, who did not want to give her name, told AFP by telephone.

"He is not in very good health and he has no job."

Zhang was released on September 13 from the Beijing Number 2 prison where he had worked hard to earn his sentence reduction, she said.

Zhang was sentenced by a Beijing court in September 1989 for "counter-revolutionary arson," according to the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.

As a 21-year old worker at a Beijing machinery factory, he had torched an empty military vehicle early on the morning of June 4, 1989 as the government sent troops into the city center to quell six weeks of peaceful democracy protests, the center said.

According to the center, nearly 15,000 people were sentenced to prison terms or labor camps in the aftermath of the protests, with at least 130 people executed for their roles opposing the martial law.

Up to 200 people remain in jail, it said.

At least 1,000 people were killed in the streets of Beijing when soldiers fired upon the unarmed protesters and citizens, it added.

The government, which initially termed the protests a "counter-revolutionary rebellion" has denied accusations from human rights about the extent of the violence and deaths.

In recent years it has only referred to it as a "political incident" that needed to be quelled in order to protect ongoing economic reforms.

According to an open letter posted on the overseas Chinese-language Dajiyuan.com website, Dong Shengkun, 46, also sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for committing arson during the protests, was released on September 5.

However, phone calls to Dong's home went unanswered and it was not immediately possible to confirm his release.