Three Americans including man facing death penalty are freed by China in US prisoner swap

Three Americans, including a man who was facing the death penalty, have been freed by China in a prisoner swap with the US.

'We are pleased to announce the release of Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung from detention in the People’s Republic of China,' a US National Security Council spokesperson told CNN on Wednesday.

'Soon they will return and be reunited with their families for the first time in many years.'

The US citizens, who were all designated as 'wrongful detainees' by the State Department are already in US custody, officials said.  

The Chinese citizens released in the swap have not been named. 

Swidan, a Texas businessman, was arrested in 2012 on drug charges and sentenced to death.  

He spent over a decade detained in what has been described by his family as a 'holding tank.' They say he has undergone physical and psychological torture and has attempted suicide.

Li, meanwhile, was detained in 2016 and sentenced to 10 years in prison for espionage charges. 

Leung, on his part, had been detained sine 2021 and was sentenced last year to life in prison on spying charges.

Li's son Harrison Li told DailyMail.com last year his family felt abandoned by the Biden administration, after Secretary of State Antony Blinken had promised to make 'substantive progress' on the Chinese hostages before any Biden-Xi summit.

Li was born in Shanghai in 1962, and came to the US for study at age 27, later naturalizing to become a United States citizen. He opened several gas stations on Long Island, and later founded a company that imported and distributed solar technology to US aerospace firms.

He was visiting Shanghai to mark the one-year anniversary of his mother's death when he was arrested upon arrival on state security charges.

After months in secret detention, Li was convicted in 2018 following a one-hour secret trial, and sentenced to 10 years in prison.