Houstonian Mark Swidan, who has been wrongfully imprisoned in China since 2012, is among the three Americans that have recently been released from Chinese custody.
Swidan was arrested in 2012 on bogus drug trafficking charges and sentenced to death in 2019. His sentence was suspended pending review, which has led to him being held for years in extreme conditions.
The White House announced earlier this morning that, along with Swidan, Americans Kai Li and John Leung had also been released by Chinese authorities and would be coming home. Both Li and Leung had been imprisoned on espionage charges.
Li is a naturalized U.S. citizen, who was arrested in 2016 and later sentenced to ten years. Leung is a businessman who had permanent residency in Hong Kong and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2023.