The state department announced that Pastor David Lin, a U.S. citizen wrongfully detained in a Chinese prison for nearly two decades, has been released after 18 years.   A spokesperson for the US State Department said in a statement: “We welcome David Lin’s release from prison in the People’s Republic of China. He has returned to the United States and now gets to see his family for the first time in nearly 20 years.”

American officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, have repeatedly raised the issue during their visits to China, citing it as a “top priority” to resolve their cases (per CNN).

According to a statement shared to Politico, Lin’s daughter, Alice Lin, confirmed her father’s release saying the State Department informed her Saturday that he would be released and arrive in Texas on Sunday: “No words can express the joy we have — we have a lot of time to make up for.”

68-year-old David Lin, a California pastor, was detained shortly after arriving in Beijing in 2006 after helping to construct an unapproved Christian training center. He was later sentenced to life in prison for contract fraud in 2009, a charge he denied. Lin visited China frequently in the 1990s and started to preach the Gospel there in 1999, according to ChinaAid, a US-based non-profit Christian human rights organization.

Lin was one of three Americans deemed by the US State Department to have been wrongfully detained in China, along with businessmen Kai Li and Mark Swidan (who are still held behind bars, on espionage and drug-related charges respectively). On Wednesday, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China will hold a hearing on Swidan and Kai Li.

John Kamm, executive director of the Dui Hua Foundation, told CBS News of Lin’s release that “this was a long time coming,” The foundation has spent years keeping Lin’s incarceration in front of U.S. officials. The Bring Our Families Home Campaign, a group that represents the loved ones of Americans held abroad, said in a statement Monday it is “elated” by the news of Lin’s release and “applauds the efforts of the Biden administration in making David’s release possible. Unfortunately, two other Americans — Kai Li and Mark Swidan — remain wrongfully detained in China. The Campaign is pleased to see that the administration has acknowledged this but urges President Biden to back this up by acting quickly and decisively to build on the momentum of David’s release and free Kai and Mark.”

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