Beijing, July 5, (dpa/GNA) – Underground Christian pastor, Jin Mingri, has been released from prison in China and flown to the United States, US-based Christian rights group ChinaAid reported on Sunday.
Jin, founder of the Zion Church, had arrived in Los Angeles on Saturday, ChinaAid said. ChinaAid founder Bob Fu, thanked US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for working behind the scenes to secure Jin’s release.
According to US media reports, Trump interceded personally with Chinese President Xi Jinping, during a state visit in May. ChinaAid said Chinese officials had informed Jin that his release resulted from discussions between Trump and Xi, and presented it as a goodwill gesture coinciding with US Independence Day.
Almost 30 members of the Zion Church were detained countrywide in October last year, according to rights groups and church members.
The detention of Jin and others drew widespread international condemnation. Jin founded the church in 2007, but the authorities shut it down in Beijing in 2018 and imposed a travel ban on Jin, whose family live in the United States.
The church continued to exist underground, gaining further adherents. US-based Human Rights Watch reports that Jin was accused in China of illegal use of information networks.
Christians are permitted to practise their religion in China, only in state-registered churches, subject to Communist Party supervision.
Many Chinese Christians prefer to worship in unregistered underground, or house, churches like the Zion Church.
GNA