Chinese pastor released from prison after Trump raised his case with Xi Jinping

An underground church pastor has been released from prison in China and has arrived in the United States, less than two months after President Donald Trump publicly raised his case with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Ezra Jin Mingri, who founded Beijing’s Zion Church, was detained in October last year among 17 other church leaders in what was one of China’s largest crackdowns on a single religious congregation in decades. The U.S.-based advocacy group ChinaAid, which monitors religious persecution in China, said Saturday that Jin had arrived in Los Angeles following his release. Jin’s detention drew international attention in May this year, when Trump said he had personally discussed the pastor’s imprisonment with Xi Jinping during a state visit to Beijing. Trump said he had also raised the imprisonment of Hong Kong democracy activist Jimmy Lai and urged the Chinese leader to reconsider both cases. “I think he’s giving very serious consideration to the pastor,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force ​One on his return flight from Beijing, but added ​that Lai’s case would be more difficult. Lai, the founder of Hong Kong’s now-shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted on charges including conspiring with foreign forces and publishing seditious material. The case has prompted widespread condemnation from Western governments and human rights organizations, which have accused Beijing of using national security laws to silence dissent. Jin’s family said his release came promptly and thanked the Trump administration “for their tremendous leadership,” adding that they believed it could not have happened without the direct intervention from Xi Jinping. “We hope this is a signal of a positive turn for people of faith in China and relations between our two nations,” the family said in a statement. Human rights advocates have also welcomed Jin’s release but cautioned that many members of Zion Church still remain behind bars. “While his release will bring much-needed comfort to his family, friends and many supporters, we cannot forget the leaders and members of Zion Church who remain detained, and others associated with the church who still face serious criminal charges,” said Brian Tronic, who directs political prisoners program at Freedom House, a U.S.-based democracy and human rights organization. Bob Fu, founder and president of ChinaAid, thanked Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other U.S. officials for securing Jin’s release, but urged the administration to continue making “religious freedom and the release of all prisoners of faith a top priority in every engagement with Beijing.” The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a group of lawmakers that had pressed for Jin’s release, said it was “overjoyed” at the news in a post on X, adding: “We send our best wishes to him and his family, and sincerely thank the diplomats and others who worked so hard behind the scenes to make the impossible happen.” Jin founded Zion Church in 2007 with about 20 worshippers. Over the following decade, it grew into one of China’s largest independent Protestant churches, operating outside the state-approved religious system that requires congregations to register with the government. Chinese authorities banned the church in 2018, as the ruling Communist Party, which is officially atheist, has long viewed independent religious organizations as a potential challenge to its hold on power. Many of Zion Church’s affiliated congregations have since become underground establishments and were shut down as Beijing had intensified efforts to bring religious groups under tighter Communist Party control. “My father started Zion in order to worship freely in a church that put God as the sole head of our church, like many faithful Christians everywhere,” Jin’s daughter, Grace Jin Drexel, told a U.S. congressional committee in November. After authorities first targeted Zion Church in 2018, Jin brought his family to the U.S. for safety but chose to return to China despite the risks.