SHANGHAI — The Chinese dissident who served 10 years after being convicted of state subversion on evidence provided by the American Internet giant Yahoo is under sharp restrictions, his wife said Friday, after he was released and returned home.

The dissident, Wang Xiaoning, 62, was released from the Beijing No. 2 prison. Just after 2 a.m., he was taken to a local police station and told that he was not to speak the news media, not to participate in any protests or demonstrations, and not to give any speeches, and that he would be closely monitored, his wife, Yu Ling, said in a telephone interview.

“This was not a condition of his release, but he was told to follow these rules,” she said.

Mr. Wang, a former engineer, distributed pro-democracy writings using e-mail and Yahoo forums, often anonymously. He was detained on Sept. 1, 2002, and convicted of “inciting subversion of state power” using information the Chinese authorities received from Yahoo. Around the same time, Shi Tao, a Chinese journalist, was convicted of providing state secrets to overseas entities also based on evidence provided by Yahoo’s subsidiary in Hong Kong. He is still in prison.

Lawmakers and human rights activists sharply criticized Yahoo for providing information to the Chinese authorities, and for cooperating in investigations involving dissidents.