US Pastor David Lin Released After Being Unjustly Imprisoned for 18 years

American Pastor David Lin has been released from a Chinese prison after serving nearly two decades on bogus charges, according to the State Department, as reported by Politico:

Lin’s daughter, Alice Lin, confirmed to POLITICO that the State Department notified her on Saturday that Chinese authorities had released her father from prison and that he would be touching down in San Antonio, Texas, sometime Sunday. “No words can express the joy we have — we have a lot of time to make up for,” said the younger Lin, who was on her way to meet her father at the airport.

In 2006, Lin, who was heavily involved in China’s underground house church movement, was arrested and charged with contract fraud over his efforts to help build a new church building- charges that the US government says are bogus.

According to Church in Chains, He initially told his family that they shoud not protest for his immediate release, as “he saw his imprisonment as an opportunity to share his faith with inmates from more than thirty nations. He said he had established a Sunday prayer meeting right from the start of his imprisonment and was working on a new translation of the Bible into Mandarin.’

Lind was unjustly given a life sentence, and his family has spent the last two decades seeking to have him released, with a renewed push in 2018 after his health started failing. A year later, “The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom announced its adoption of David Lin as part of the Religious Prisoners of Conscience Project.” and pressure has been applied in earnest, paving the way for his early release.