Pastor released from Chinese prison after Trump raises his case with Xi Jinping

The pastor of a large underground group church in China who was imprisoned by Chinese authorities last year, has been released and reunited with his family in the United States, according to reports.

Ezra Jin, founder of Zion Church, was one of nearly 30 Zion Church pastors and staff arrested in October in one of the largest crackdowns against China. evangelical churches for decades, according to the nonprofit advocacy group Alliance Luc.

Jin was released from detention and arrived in Los Angeles on Friday, Chinese aid reported. According to the Christian human rights organization, Chinese authorities told Jin that he was being released because of negotiations between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

During a high-profile state visit to Beijing in May, Trump raised Jin’s case directly with the Chinese leader. On his flight back to the United States, Trump told reporters that Xi had promised to “strongly consider” the release of the pastor.

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“We feel so overwhelmed with joy. We thank God for this amazing miracle,” his daughter Grace Jin Drexel said in a family statement. at CNN.

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“We also thank President Trump and his administration for their tremendous leadership,” she said, adding that this would not have been possible “without the direct intervention of President Xi Jinping.”

The family had been separated for nearly a decade, after Drexel’s mother and brothers fled China in 2018 after authorities closed the physical sanctuary of Zion Church in Beijing. Drexel previously told Fox News Digital his father felt called to stay in China. She hadn’t seen him in person since 2020.

Drexel also said the family hoped Jin’s release would “signal a positive turning point for people of faith in China and for relations between our two nations.”

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Jin’s case has sparked international outcry, with advocacy groups like ChinaAid calling the church arrests “politically motivated.”

The organization said the arrests marked “a dramatic escalation of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) policies.” war on religious freedom“.

“These pastors and colleagues are being treated like criminals simply because they faithfully led a large, legally unregistered church that refused to submit to the CCP’s control and surveillance,” ChinaAid said in a statement. a November statement calling for their release and international pressure.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio denounced the detentions members of the Zion Church in October and called on the Chinese government to release them.

Before his trip to Beijing in May, Trump pledged to raise Jin’s case directly with Xi.

“I’m going to talk about it,” Trump told The Hill reporter When asked if he planned to pressure Xi over the detained pastor, Julia Manchester was questioned.

“As he has said publicly, President Trump raised Pastor Jin’s detention directly with Xi Jinping,” a US official told Fox News Digital. “He will always defend religious freedom in the world. He raised the case of Jimmy Lai as he promised.”

ChinaAid celebrated the pastor’s release in a press release and thanked the Trump administration for its efforts to secure Jin’s release.

“We rejoice with Pastor Ezra Jin, his family and the global Body of Christ on this remarkable Independence Day miracle,” Rev. Dr. Bob Fu, founder and chairman of ChinaAid, said in a statement. “We thank Almighty God for hearing the prayers of his people. We are deeply grateful to President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and all U.S. officials who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to secure Pastor Jin’s freedom.

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Fu noted that although Jin was released, eight other pastors and members of Zion Church, as well as practitioners of other religions, remain “unjustly imprisoned by the Chinese Communist Party.”

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“We respectfully call on President Trump and his administration to continue to make religious freedom and the release of all prisoners of faith a top priority in any engagement with Beijing,” Fu added. “True progress in the U.S.-China relationship must include freedom for those who are imprisoned simply because they choose to believe.”

Fox News’ Ashley Carnahan and Efrat Lachter contributed to this report.

Original article source: Pastor released from Chinese prison after Trump raises his case with Xi Jinping