{"id":1832332,"date":"2023-02-02T07:37:15","date_gmt":"2023-02-02T12:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1832332"},"modified":"2023-02-02T07:37:47","modified_gmt":"2023-02-02T12:37:47","slug":"texans-demand-blinken-push-for-release-of-houston-man-imprisoned-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/texans-demand-blinken-push-for-release-of-houston-man-imprisoned-in-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Texans Demand Blinken Push For Release Of Houston Man Imprisoned In China"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftexans-demand-blinken-push-for-release-of-houston-man-imprisoned-in-china%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1832332&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47-->\n<p>Texas legislators are increasing pressure on the Biden government to free a Houston businessman held in China.<\/p>\n<p>Senator Ted Cruz (Republican from Texas) gave a passionate speech on the Senate Floor. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cruz.senate.gov\/newsroom\/press-releases\/sen-cruz-texas-colleagues-introduce-resolution-calling-for-release-of-texan-mark-swidan-wrongfully-detained-in-china\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A resolution was introduced<\/a> Supported by other Texas legislators on Wednesday, urging the Chinese Communist Party release Mark Swidan \u201cimmediately\u201d After more than a decade captivity.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udea8\u201dMadam President, I rise today to speak about a gross miscarriage of Justice, the imprisonment of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/FreeMarkSwidan?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#FreeMarkSwidan<\/a>.\u201d \u2013 Sen. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tedcruz?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@tedcruz<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenTedCruz?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SenTedCruz<\/a> is a gifted lawyer, and today, Mark\u2019s mom got to hear a first class defense of her son.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/TQTYCV28h1\">pic.twitter.com\/TQTYCV28h1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jonathan Franks (@jonfranks) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jonfranks\/status\/1620974474085695489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 2, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<p>This resolution comes before a trip Secretary Antony Blinken is due to make to China this weekend.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMark Swidan\u2019s captivity must come to an end for himself, for his family, and for the United States,\u201d Cruz stated this in a statement. \u201cSecretary Blinken\u2019s upcoming trip to Beijing should be the final chapter in this tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Swidan, now in his 40s and on a business trip, was detained by Chinese authorities in 2012. According to reports, he was convicted of participating in a criminal drug conspiracy in 2019. He was also sentenced to death. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kvue.com\/article\/news\/local\/mark-swidan-china-prison\/269-ae03d41a-f398-46ff-b92e-002829bd0c16\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">KVUE, Austin ABC affiliate<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. government views Swidan\u2019s detention as wrongful. His mother hopes that Blinken will be released, given recent prisoner swaps. <a href=\"https:\/\/abc13.com\/mark-swidan-american-jailed-in-china-trevor-reed-russian-prison-exchange\/11802290\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Push for her release<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy message for Blinken is: say their names,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/news\/world\/articles\/2023-01-18\/say-their-names-families-urge-blinken-to-use-china-trip-to-free-u-s-detainees\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Reuters spoke with Katherine Swidan<\/a>This was in reference to other families asking the secretary of State to press Beijing to free their loved ones. \u201cThey\u2019re American citizens. They\u2019ve been wrongfully detained. Enough is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The State Department designated three Americans held in China \u2014 Swidan, along with Kai Li and pastor David Lin \u2014 as \u201cwrongful detainees,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2022\/12\/09\/britney-griner-release-spurs-anger-over-jailed-americans-in-china-00073320\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">POLITICO published last year&#8217;s figures<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Cruz\u2019s resolution, which is co-sponsored by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX), warns Swidan\u2019s health has deteriorated amid \u201cinhumane\u201d Conditions and lack of proper medical care. The resolution also\u00a0notes a United Nations working group found Swidan as being held in violation of customary international law.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am calling on the Biden administration to use all the tools at our disposal to secure his release, and on the government of China to finally release him and return him home,\u201d Cruz stated in his statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Texas lawmakers are ramping up pressure on the Biden administration to demand the freedom of a Houston businessman imprisoned in China. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) delivered an impassioned speech on the Senate floor and introduced a resolution supported by other Texas lawmakers on Wednesday calling for the Chinese Communist Party to release Mark Swidan \u201cimmediately\u201d &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1588,"featured_media":1832335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[4636,4501,4368,13866,7143,3688,3684,14211],"class_list":["post-1832332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire","tag-blinken","tag-china","tag-demand","tag-houston","tag-imprisoned","tag-push","tag-release","tag-texans"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1832332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1588"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1832332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1832332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1832335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1832332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1832332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1832332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}