CNN
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A pastor who the United States says was wrongly held in a Chinese prison for nearly two decades has been released, the State Department said, ending a case the Biden administration has called a top priority in efforts to stabilize relations with Beijing.
David Lin, 68, was arrested in China in 2006 after helping to build an unauthorized church. He was later sentenced to life in prison for contract fraud, a charge he denied.
Lin is one of three Americans who the U.S. State Department says have been wrongfully detained in China. Businessmen Kai Li and Mark Swidan remain behind bars, on espionage and drug charges, respectively.
“We welcome the release of David Lin from prison in the People’s Republic of China,” a U.S. State Department spokesperson said in a statement Sunday.
“He has returned to the United States and is now able to see his family for the first time in nearly 20 years,” the statement added.
The Biden administration has stepped up diplomatic efforts in recent years to secure the release of the three men.
U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan, have repeatedly raised the issue during their visits to China, citing it as a “top priority” to resolve their cases.
President Joe Biden also raised the issue with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during their in-person meeting in San Francisco in November and their phone conversation earlier this year, according to White House reports.
According to ChinaAid, a U.S.-based Christian human rights nonprofit, Lin visited China frequently in the 1990s and began preaching the gospel there in 1999.
He was arrested in 2006 for helping an underground “house church” build a place of worship and was banned from leaving the country, according to ChinaAid.
According to ChinaAid, Lin saw his incarceration as an opportunity to share his faith with fellow inmates and started a prayer group.
In China, many Christians once attended house churches or informal gatherings independent of state churches. But the Chinese government has cracked down on the movement in recent decades as the ruling Communist Party tightened its grip on religion, particularly under Xi Jinping.
In 2009, Lin was sentenced to life in prison for contract fraud, a crime commonly used against house church leaders who raise money to support their work, according to the Dui Hua Foundation, a San Francisco-based human rights group that advocates for the rights of detainees in China.
While in prison, Lin has received several sentence reductions and is scheduled to be released in 2029, according to the Dui Hua Foundation.
Lin’s release was welcomed by some U.S. politicians, who also called for the release of other Americans believed to be unjustly detained in China.
“I am extremely pleased to hear that David Lin has been released,” Rep. Michael McCaul said in a statement on social media Sunday. “However, Kai Li and Texan Mark Swidan remain prisoners of the CCP – and must be released now.”
The Bring Our Families Home campaign, a group that represents relatives of Americans detained overseas, said in a statement Monday that it was “thrilled” by the news of Lin’s release and “applauds the Biden administration’s efforts to make David’s release possible.”
“Sadly, two other Americans – Kai Li and Mark Swidan – remain wrongfully detained in China,” the statement said. “The campaign is pleased to see the administration’s acknowledgement of this fact, but urges President Biden to support it by acting swiftly and decisively to build on the momentum of David’s release and free Kai and Mark.”
