Mark Swidan has been languishing in a Chinese prison since his arrest in 2012 on narcotics trafficking charges, which he denies. He was visiting China to buy flooring and furniture, according to his mother. But he was not in the country at the time of the alleged offenses, according to a review of his case by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
A Chinese court upheld his death sentence in 2023, with a two-year reprieve.
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Washington — The mother of Mark Swidan, a Texas businessman who has been wrongfully detained in China, said she fears he may take his own life after more than a decade behind bars.
His family and supporters have long worried about his ailing health, saying he’s undergone torture, including having both hands broken and his kneecaps forcibly dislocated.
The State Department considers Mark Swidan and two other Americans — Long Island businessman Kai Li and California pastor David Lin — to be wrongfully detained in China, a rare designation that puts the full force of the U.S. government behind securing his release.
“The president also repeated his call for China to release U.S. citizens who are wrongfully detained or under exit bans,” Kirby said at the White House press briefing.
It was the first time the two leaders have talked since they met at a high-stakes summit in California last November amid rising tensions between the two countries.
Katherine Swidan said in February that she was becoming increasingly “fed up” with the government’s inability to secure her son’s release and was “working with lawyers to explore all options.”
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