Chinese authorities released an American pastor Sunday ahead of the country’s Mid-Autumn Festival after he had spent 20 years in prison, according to multiple reports.
David Lin, 68, was detained in China in 2006, the year he arrived in the country to set up a center to instruct Christianity in Beijing, CBS News reported. Subsequently convicted of fraud, Lin was reportedly sentenced to life imprisonment in 2009.
Lin’s release came almost three weeks after U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan visited Beijing in late August and visited China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, according to the outlet.
“We welcome David Lin’s release from prison in the People’s Republic of China,” the U.S. Department of State told The Washington Post by email. Lin “now gets to see his family for the first time in nearly 20 years,” the statement reportedly added.
China has freed David Lin, a U.S. pastor who had been in jail since 2006, the State Dept. says. https://t.co/u9YmY3wJ5e
— NBC News World (@NBCNewsWorld) September 16, 2024
Chinese authorities have been known to level contract fraud allegations “against house church leaders who raise funds to support their work,” according to the Dui Hua Foundation — a California-based nonprofit humanitarian organization that campaigns on behalf of detainees in China.
Lin’s life sentence had been reduced four times and he was due to be released in December 2029 as of the last reduction, the organization writes. (RELATED: China Spent The Last Year Committing Every Human Rights Violation In The Book, US Intel Finds)
The U.S. Department of State had been engaging with the Chinese government over the detention of Americans such as Lin and two others, Mark Swidan and Kai Li, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in July 2023.
Dui Hua writes that it appealed to the Chinese government for clemency on Lin’s behalf 30 times, receiving multiple written replies from Beijing.
Swidan, a Texas businessman, has been in China since 2016 for alleged drug trafficking and faces the death penalty, Dui Hua Foundation Executive Director John Kamm told CBS News. Kai Li has reportedly suffered a stroke, according to Kamm. A 62-year-old export businessman, Li was accused of espionage by the Chinese government, according to a website set up in his name.
After 2 decades behind bars in #China, US pastor David Lin has been freed. But he is just one of many victims of China’s politicized ‘justice’ system. “No words can express the joy we have ,” his daughter said. image from @HostageAid @FreeKaiLi https://t.co/T24hrFy4D6 pic.twitter.com/Pqb1VOiuPF
— Safeguard Defenders (保护卫士) (@SafeguardDefend) September 16, 2024
Dui Hua also named Nelson Wells Jr. and Dawn Michelle Hunt among over 200 Americans detained in China.
Wells was “convicted on a drug charge with little evidence of his guilt, opportunity to defend himself, or due process prior to this conviction and incarceration,” according to a website set up in his name. He allegedly suffers from a serious medical condition in his prison in Chongqing in China’s southwest. He is a Louisiana native and the son of a U.S. Army veteran, according to the website.
Hunt — a temporary employee in Chicago who enjoyed sweepstakes — was allegedly duped into carrying bags containing 4.5 lbs of methamphetamine by someone who claimed to be a British lawyer and told her she won a trip to Australia, The New York Times reported. Her initial death sentence was reportedly commuted to life imprisonment.
This article was originally published at dailycaller.com
