An underground church pastor has been released from prison in China and has arrived in the United States, less than two months after President Donald Trump publicly raised his case with Chinese President Xi Jinping.Limited time: Save 25% on NBC News subscriptionGet exclusive reporting, live Q&As and ad-free reading.Ezra Jin Mingri, who founded Beijing’s Zion Church, was detained in October last year among 17 other church leaders in what was one of China’s largest crackdowns on a single religious congregation in decades.The U.S.-based advocacy group ChinaAid, which monitors religious persecution in China, said Saturday that Jin had arrived in Los Angeles following his release.
Jin’s detention drew international attention in May this year, when Trump said he had personally discussed the pastor’s imprisonment with Xi Jinping during a state visit to Beijing.Trump said he had also raised the imprisonment of Hong Kong democracy activist Jimmy Lai and urged the Chinese leader to reconsider both cases.
“I think he’s giving very serious consideration to the pastor,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on his return flight from Beijing, but added that Lai’s case would be more difficult.Lai, the founder of Hong Kong’s now-shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted on charges including conspiring with foreign forces and publishing seditious material.The case has prompted widespread condemnation from Western governments and human rights organizations, which have accused Beijing of using national security laws to silence dissent.
Jin’s family said his release came promptly and thanked the Trump administration “for their tremendous leadership,” adding that they believed it could not have happened without the direct intervention from Xi Jinping.“We hope this is a signal of a positive turn for people of faith in China and relations between our two nations,” the family said i...