Tuesday, December 10, 2024
Year : 2, Issue: 15
The United States welcomed home three American citizens who were imprisoned in China for several years. Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung returned to the U.S. in late November.
The United States welcomed home three American citizens who were imprisoned in China for several years. Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung returned to the U.S. in late November.
Mark Swidan was wrongfully detained in China on drug charges in 2012. He was held in Jiangmen Prison and received a sentence to death in 2019. According to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, although his death sentence was delayed, Swidan faced poor sanitary conditions in prison and was regularly denied medical services. Kai Li was arbitrarily detained in China in 2016 on false charges of spying on the behalf of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Invesigation. His trial was held behind closed doors, and he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. John Leung was detained in 2021 on espionage charges.
The return of Swidan, Li and Leung, follows the release of another American citizen wrongfully detained by China, David Lin. Lin was a pastor who had been held in China for more than 20 years before his release in September.
All of these releases are the result of months of discussions between the United States and China. In a press briefing, State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller discussing Lin’s release said, “Every time the Secretary has met with Chinese officials … he has raised the case of David Lin and other wrongfully detained Americans, and we continue to push for the release of other wrongfully detained Americans.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote in a post on X that he had a chance to talk with the three men as “they traveled home to the United States just in time for Thanksgiving.”
“I told them how glad I was that they were in good health and that they’ll soon be reunited with their loved ones,” he said.
The Biden Administration has made several attempts to secure the release of all Americans wrongfully detained abroad. Earlier this year, President Joe Biden proclaimed March 9 as U.S. Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Day. In the announcement, President Biden wrote, “Today — and every day — the United States reaffirms our sacred pledge to American hostages and detainees wrongfully held abroad: We see you. We stand with you. We will not stop working until you are home and reunited with your family.”
