A significant development in China occurred when a well-known pastor from an underground church was freed from detention. This release came shortly after U.S. President Trump discussed the pastor’s plight during his visit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. The news spread on Saturday, confirmed by the pastor’s family and human rights advocates.
Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri has safely reached Los Angeles and has joyfully reunited with his loved ones, according to Frances Hui from the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, who shared the update on X.
In October, Jin, along with 17 leaders from the Zion Church, was detained during one of China’s most extensive crackdowns against a single religious group in many years. This action heightened global concerns about China’s ongoing suppression of religious freedoms.
Jin’s family, in a statement, described his release as unexpectedly swift, expressing their gratitude towards Trump. They acknowledged that such an outcome would have been unlikely without President Xi’s personal involvement.
“We are hopeful that this marks a new chapter for religious believers in China and for improved relations between our two countries,” the family expressed in their statement.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jin’s case gained attention after Trump, on the way home from a state visit to Beijing in May, said he raised with Xi the detentions of both the pastor and that of imprisoned Hong Kong activist Jimmy Lai.
“He said he’s gonna strongly consider the pastor,” Trump told reporters on his flight. But, he said, Xi told him that Lai’s case “would be a tough one.”
The 78-year-old Lai, a former clothing magnate and publisher of a Hong Kong tabloid critical of Beijing, received a 20-year sentence in February.
Activists welcomed Jin’s release but also remembered other church leaders still being held.
“At least 8 members of Zion Church remain detained in China,” Maya Wang from Human Rights Watch wrote on X. “They should all be freed.”
The Zion Church is among the largest underground or house churches in China that are unregistered with authorities. They defy a requirement that believers worship only in registered congregations.
The ruling Communist Party, which is officially atheist, views organized religion as a potential threat to its hold on power. Under Xi, Chinese authorities have pushed to “Sinicize” religion by demanding loyalty to the party.
“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,” his daughter Grace Jin Drexel, who lives in the United States, told a congressional committee in November.
Jin brought his family to the US after authorities targeted Zion Church in 2018 but decided to go back despite the risks. His daughter said last fall that she hadn’t seen her father in six years.