Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri, leader of one of China’s largest underground churches, has been released from detention and reunited with his family in the United States. This latest development happened less than two months after U.S. President Donald Trump personally raised his case with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, his family and rights advocates said Saturday (July 4), the Associated Press reported.
Jin arrived in Los Angeles and is “finally reunited with his family,” Frances Hui of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation wrote on X, AP reported.
Others detained
Jin and 17 other leaders of the unregistered Zion Church were detained last October in one of the largest crackdowns on a single congregation in China in decades. In a statement, the family said the release came very quickly, thanked President Trump and said it could not have happened without Xi’s direct intervention. “We hope this is a signal of a positive turn for people of faith in China,” the statement said.
Lai, 78, was sentenced to 20 years in February. Advocates welcomed the release while noting others remain held. “At least 8 members of Zion Church remain detained in China,” Human Rights Watch’s Maya Wang wrote on X. “They should all be freed.”
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by CDI Staff and originally published by Christian Daily International.
