A prominent Chinese Aids activist, Wan Yanhai, has been freed after confessing to breaking the law and leaking state secrets.

I think that I will be more careful in future when it comes to observing the law

Aids activist Wan Yanhai

Mr Wan, who disappeared in August provoking international condemnation, was detained for three weeks by Chinese authorities.

A government spokesman told the Xinhua agency that Mr Wan had obtained classified documents and sent them to media institutions abroad.

Mr Wan told the BBC that he accepted the government's accusation regarding the leaking of state secrets and had learnt "a good lesson".

Yanhai did much to publicise the fate of China's Aids sufferers

"There aren't many people who care about Aids and in the process of going about their work, it sometimes happens that Aids activists can't make the right judgement about the result of their actions," he said.

"I think that I will be more careful in future when it comes to observing the law."

Mr Wan has been "admonished," the Xinhua agency reported, however it is not clear whether he has been fined or if he is to face punishment.

Mr Wan is a prominent campaigner for Aids sufferers in China and a vociferous critic of what he says is the Chinese Government's slow response to the spread of the HIV virus.

His disappearance led to widespread condemnation from international human rights organisations.

Chinese authorities banned his group - the Aids Action Project - in July this year.

Scandal

The banning came shortly after he initiated a campaign to publicise the plight of thousands of villagers in the Henan province, who were infected with HIV during blood transfusions at government-backed clinics with improper sterilisation procedures.

Mr Wan's website documented the spread of the disease through blood dealing and published a list of those who have already died, incurring the wrath of the Chinese Government in the process.

China now has 1.5 million HIV carriers, and doctors warn that could climb as high as 10 million by 2010.

The United Nations has criticised China's response to the virus, and warned that the country faces an Aids catastrophe.