(NewsNation) — Actor Mel Gibson thanked all those who helped get American Mark Swidan released from a Chinese prison, including NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas.
Swidan was one of three Americans released in a prisoner swap arranged by the Biden administration following years of negotiations with China that spanned three presidential administrations.
The full details of the swap and what China may have received in exchange for releasing the three Americans who were unlawfully detained are not yet available.
Swidan, a Texas businessman and artist, has been imprisoned in China since 2012. He was convicted of colluding with a Mexican cartel to make methamphetamine. Despite a lack of evidence, he was given a death sentence.
Gibson has been an advocate for Swidan’s release, using his celebrity platform to advocate for Swidan’s release. A devout Catholic, Gibson urged Americans to pray for his release.
“Mark Swidan has been wrongfully and unlawfully imprisoned by the Chinese for almost 11 years,” Gibson said in a NewsNation exclusive in April 2023, later adding: “He faces a death sentence. He’s a man of great faith, an American patriot, and he refuses during his captivity to renounce either his faith or his country.”
Swidan had traveled to China to buy supplies for the home he was fixing up directly from a factory in Guangzhou, China. He was on the phone with his mother when police raided his hotel room and arrested him.
Swidan’s family said he was being abused in a prison and he was denied visits from representatives from the U.S. consulate.
In his video, Gibson also thanked Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for his work advocating for Swidan’s release and highlighted NewsNation’s reporting on Swidan’s unlawful detention.
