SHANGHAI — Peter Humphrey, a British private investigator who was detained two years ago while working for the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, was released from prison on Tuesday with seven months to go in a two-and-a-half year sentence, according to friends and family members.

上海——英国私家侦探韩飞龙(Peter Humphrey)两年前在为制药巨头葛兰素史克(GlaxoSmithKline)工作时遭到拘捕。据他的朋友及家人透露，被判两年半监禁的韩飞龙已于周二获释，获得七个月的减刑。

The Shanghai authorities released Mr. Humphrey, 59, early Tuesday morning and admitted him to a hospital because of poor health, his family said. Once tests are conducted, close friends and relatives say, he is expected to be issued an emergency passport and deported to Britain by the Chinese authorities.

他的家人表示，上海当局于周二清晨释放了59岁的韩飞龙，并送他入院治疗，因为他的身体状况不佳。密友及家人还称，完成体检后，他将会得到为他发放的紧急护照。随后，中国政府会将他驱逐出境，送回英国。

Mr. Humphrey’s arrest in the summer of 2013 coincided with a Chinese government investigation into accusations of fraud and corruption at the drug company. Although Mr. Humphrey was not charged in connection with that case, his friends and relatives believed he was detained because of work he had been conducting for Glaxo.

韩飞龙于2013年夏季被捕的时候，中国政府正在开展针对葛兰素史克的欺诈与腐败指控的调查。虽然韩飞龙没有受到与此案有关的指控，但他的朋友和亲属认为，导致他被捕的原因是他为葛兰素史克所做的工作。

In a separate case, Glaxo was eventually fined nearly $500 million, one of the largest fines in corporate history in China, for engaging in fraud and bribery. One of the company’s top executives in China was also charged with wrongdoing in the case. The authorities then suspended the three-year prison sentence of the executive, Mark Reilly, and ordered him deported.

在另一起案件中，葛兰素史克因为存在欺诈和贿赂行为最终被处以30亿元人民币的罚款。这是中国商业史上金额最高的罚款之一。该公司中国区的一名高管也在此案中被控存在不法行为。当局判处这名叫做马克锐(Mark Reilly)的高管三年有期徒刑，缓期执行，并将他驱逐出境。

Mr. Humphrey and his wife and business partner, Yu Yingzeng, a Chinese-born American citizen, were charged with violating the rights of private citizens by obtaining private information about them while operating ChinaWhys. The company, an investigation firm, regularly performed due diligence for multinational corporations in China.

韩飞龙和身为商业伙伴的妻子——出生于中国的美国公民虞英曾——被控在经营中慧公司(ChinaWhys)期间获取私人信息，从而侵犯了普通公民的权利。这家调查公司常常为在中国开展业务的跨国公司开展尽职调查。

Ms. Yu, who is 61, was sentenced last year to two years in prison, and she is expected to be released within a month. There was no indication Tuesday that her sentence had been reduced. The sentences for her and her husband took into account time served since their arrests.

现年61岁的虞英曾去年被判处两年有期徒刑，预计将在一个月内获释。本周二的时候，没有迹象表明她获得了减刑。她和丈夫所服的刑期从被捕之日开始算起。

A representative at the British consulate could not be reached late Tuesday. But British officials issued a two-sentence statement, without naming Mr. Humphrey: “We have been notified by the Chinese authorities that a British national detained in China has been released. We are providing consular assistance to the family.”

周二晚间，记者无法联系到英国使领馆的代表。但英国官方发表了一份只有两句话的声明，其中没有点出韩飞龙的姓名：“中国当局告知我们，一名拘押在中国境内的英国公民已被释放。我们正为此人的家庭提供领事协助。”

In a statement released Tuesday by the Humphrey family, the couple’s son, Harvey, who is a university student in Britain, said: “I’m stunned and delighted. I hope to see both of my parents as soon as possible.”

在韩飞龙一家于周二发表的声明中，夫妇二人的儿子哈维(Harvey)称，“我又惊又喜，希望能尽快见到父母。”哈维目前在英国读大学。

The Humphrey case shocked the international community in China because ChinaWhys had worked for some of the world’s biggest companies and had typically been hired to help root out corruption. But the case highlighted the risks of doing such work in China, and it suggested that investigative firms were sometimes paying to obtain access to confidential government records.

韩飞龙一案让在华国际人士十分震惊，因为中慧曾经为世界上最大的一些公司工作，而且往往是受聘帮忙根除腐败。然而，这起案件突显了在中国从事这种工作的风险。它还表明，为了获取机密的政府记录，调查公司有时会向有关方面行贿。

At their one-day trial in August, Mr. Humphrey and Ms. Yu acknowledged that ChinaWhys had bought government-issued identity records, exit and entry travel documents and mobile phone records, according to transcripts and video excerpts. The trial was closed to the news media, but the couple said they had believed that obtaining many of the records was legal.

庭审文字记录和视频片段显示，韩飞龙和虞英曾夫妇在去年8月为期一天的审判中承认，中慧曾经购买政府签发的身份记录、出入境旅行文件和移动电话记录。此次审判未对媒体开放，但夫妇二人表示，他们一直以为获取其中许多记录属合法行为。

Looming behind the trial, though, was the Glaxo case. The pharmaceutical company hired ChinaWhys to investigate a breach in privacy related to the company’s China general manager, Mr. Reilly, but also to look into the identity of a whistle-blower who had sent emails and documents to the authorities in China, according to people involved in the case.

不过，此次审判的背后是葛兰素史克一案。有涉案人员表示，这家制药公司曾聘请中慧调查与公司在华业务主管马克锐有关的侵犯隐私事件，以及向中国当局发送邮件和文件的举报者的身份。

The company suspected that the whistle-blower was a former Glaxo employee, according to people familiar with the case. The whistle-blower sent emails to Glaxo executives and board members, along with a videotape that appeared to show Mr. Reilly, the company’s top executive in China, having sex with his girlfriend in his Shanghai apartment.

知晓此案内情的人士透露，公司怀疑举报者是葛兰素史克以前的员工。这名举报者向葛兰素史克的多名高管和董事发送了电子邮件，并附上了一段视频。这似乎是公司在华业务的总负责人马克锐与女友的一段性爱视频，摄于他在上海的公寓。

A Glaxo spokesman acknowledged last summer that ChinaWhys had been hired to conduct due diligence.

去年夏天，葛兰素史克的一名男发言人承认，公司曾聘请中慧开展尽职调查。

Mr. Humphrey’s son, however, has said in interviews that when he spoke with his father in prison, Mr. Humphrey suggested Glaxo had allowed him to fall into a trap by focusing on the identity of the whistle-blower rather than the accusations the whistle-blower made against the company.

然而，韩飞龙之子接受采访称，他去监狱探视父亲时，韩飞龙表示葛兰素史克让他落入了陷阱，使他把注意力放在了举报者身份的问题上，而不是此人对公司的指控。

A Glaxo spokeswoman declined to comment on Tuesday. But in an article in The Daily Telegraph in August, Harvey Humphrey was quoted as saying: “I would not blame this on China. The cause is not the Chinese, it is G.S.K.”

周二的时候，葛兰素史克的另一名女发言人拒绝就此事置评。不过，《每日电讯报》(The Daily Telegraph)在8月的一篇文章中援引哈维·汉弗莱的话说：“我不会怪罪中国。原因不在中国人，而在葛兰素史克身上。”