Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri has been released from detention in China, less than two months after US President Donald Trump brought up his case when meeting Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing. Jin, of the underground Zion Church, arrived in Los Angeles on Saturday (Jul 4), and is finally reunited with his family, according to rights advocates.
Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri has been released from detention in China, less than two months after US President Donald Trump brought up his case when meeting Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing.
Jin, of the underground Zion Church, arrived in Los Angeles on Saturday (Jul 4), and is finally reunited with his family, according to rights advocates. Jin was detained with 17 other church leaders in October in one of China's largest crackdowns on a single church in decades, raising worries over Beijing's escalation in curtailing religious freedom. ChinaAid, a Christian NGO, welcomed Jin's release, saying it was a result of direct intervention from Chairman Xi Jinping.
The pastor had been held in detention centres in the southern Chinese city of Beihai since last October. Jin's daughter Grace told Reuters that eight members of the Zion Church are still detained in China. China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside work hours. The release of Pastor Jin is seen as a signal of a positive turn for people of faith in China and relations between the two nations.
Pastor Jin's family relocated abroad after 2018 but he returned to China to be with the church, afterwards facing a travel ban. He has not seen most of his family, including two young sons, for more than seven years, his daughter told AFP last year. The Zion Church, which grew to 1,500 members before shuttering in 2018 under pressure from Chinese authorities, maintained an online presence that flourished during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a following across 40 Chinese cities.
Jin's release comes as China tightens scrutiny of unofficial groups, with an Early Rain Covenant Church service in southwestern Sichuan province being raided and two leaders detained in June. The same week, Yayang church in eastern Zhejiang province was scaffolded and had its cross removed, AFP reporters saw. The release of Pastor Jin is a significant development in the ongoing crackdown on religious freedom in China.
It remains to be seen whether this is a one-off case or a sign of a broader shift in China's approach to religious freedom
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