three American citizens who have been Detained in China a State Department spokesman said Wednesday.
They are Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung.
Lee, 70, of Long Island, New York, was arrested in 2016 and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2018 on espionage charges. Svidan, a Texas businessman in his 40s, had been in prison since 2012 and was sentenced to a suspended death sentence in 2019 after being convicted on drug-related charges that a United Nations task force said had no basis in evidence.
70-year-old American John Leung is a permanent resident of China Hong Kongwas convicted of espionage by a court in eastern China last year and sentenced to life in prison. According to Hong Kong and Chinese news agencies, Leung, who was detained in 2021, was a member of a pro-Beijing group in the United States and posed for photos with senior Chinese officials.
“They will soon return and be reunited with their families for the first time in many years,” a State Department spokesman said in a statement.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he has worked closely with Lee’s son Harrison over the years, “talking directly to the highest levels of the Chinese and US governments for Mr. Lee’s release and safe return.” his family is in Huntington, New York.”
“Even when we felt there was no hope, we never gave up believing that one day Mr. Lee would come home,” she said in a statement on Wednesday. “I look forward to welcoming Mr. Lee back home to New York soon.”
For the families of all three freed Americans, “There’s a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving,” he said.
It was news The first information about this was published by Politico.
An announcement is made on Wednesday thereafter surprise release in September Like Lee and Swidan, American pastor David Lin, whom the United States classifies as wrongfully imprisoned. He has been imprisoned in China since 2006 after being sentenced to life in prison for contract fraud.
The Dui Hua Foundation, which monitors prisoner rights in China, estimates that there are about 200 American prisoners, more than in any other foreign country, including Americans who are incarcerated and barred from leaving the country while the case is investigated. .
The State Department classifies only a few of them as wrongfully imprisoned. Beijing says that all work is done in accordance with the law. China’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment in Beijing on Wednesday.
This is a is developing the story. Please check for updates.
Eric Baculinao contributed.