The United States criticizes China’s death sentence of an “unjustly detained” American citizen." title="The United States criticizes China’s death sentence of an “unjustly detained” American citizen." />

The United States criticizes China’s death sentence of an “unjustly detained” American citizen.

Written by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The United States expressed its “disappointment” on Thursday at China’s decision to uphold the death sentence of an American man who had been “unjustly detained” for more than a decade. on drug-related charges.

Texas resident Katherine Swidan holds a photo of her son Mark Swidan who has been detained in China for a decade. (Courtesy of the Swidan family)

Houston resident Mark Swidan was arrested on November 13, 2012, while on a business trip to China. He was accused of being part of a network involved in the manufacture and trafficking of drugs.

Swidan pleaded not guilty to all charges, but was denied by the Jiangmen Intermediate Court. which upheld his death sentence with a two-year suspended sentence, according to the US State Department.

“We are disappointed by this decision and will continue to press for his immediate release and return to the United States,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said in a statement.

“U.S. officials have repeatedly expressed their concerns to senior PRC officials [People’s Republic of China] officials about Swidan’s treatment, medical care and his inability to send or receive mail in a timely manner,” he added.

Patel said President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken “will continue to be personally focused” on the release of Swidan and other US citizens who were “mistakenly detained” or held hostage around the world.

Lack of evidence

Swidan was 37 years old at the time of his arrest. He was sentenced to death in 2018 despite the lack of evidence presented against him.

No drugs were found on Swidan’s body or in his hotel room when he was arrestedaccording to a report [pdf] published by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in 2020.

The prosecution did not produce forensic or telecommunications evidence, such as emails, phone call logs or letters. His passport records showed Swidan was not in China when the alleged crime occurred.

US officials had previously called for his release. In February, Texas Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. John Cornyn and Congressman Michael Cloud, introduced a resolution demanding his release before Blinken’s planned trip to Beijing.

“They have sentenced him to death for charges for which they have little or no evidence, and I had been urging Tony Blinken when he was going to Beijing to raise Mark’s case and make the case for Mark’s release,” Cruz said in a statement.

Blinken postponed his visit indefinitely after a suspected Chinese spy balloon was spotted flying over the continental United States. A US military aircraft shot down the balloon later on February 4.

“Bringing Mark Swidan home to his family should be a priority for this administration,” Cloud said. “Many innocent Americans remain unjustly imprisoned by authoritarian regimes that are happy to harvest human lives as capital for future political bargaining.”

“abused”

According to the UN report, Swidan was “mistreated” while in detention and exposed to “poor sanitary conditions”. He was denied medical treatment and barred from communicating with his family or U.S. consulates.

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