Cloud Urges Biden to Demand Release of Imprisoned Texan from Xi, Tells Newsmax

Mark Swidan of Houston has been wrongfully detained in China for more than a decade, and Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, told Newsmax on Wednesday that President Joe Biden must address the issue during his meeting with China President Xi Jinping in San Francisco.

“This administration needs to push for good, red-blooded American citizens to be released, just like we do for these high-profile celebrity-type people,” Cloud told “American Agenda,” referring to the Biden administration working for the release of women’s pro basketball player Brittney Griner from Russia. “These are innocent people who are being abused by an authoritarian regime, and they need to have the backing of our White House.”

Swidan, 48, was in China in 2012 looking for flooring, fixtures and furniture for his home and business in Houston and looking to purchase helium on commission for a business in Houston, according to a February 2020 report from the U.N. Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. The report said Swidan was arrested for allegedly being part of a criminal drug manufacturing organization, even though none of the other members arrested said he was involved, and his passport showed he was not in China at the time of the alleged offense.

Swidan was sentenced to death in April 2019, and in April of this year, China denied his appeal and upheld the death penalty with a two-year suspended death sentence, according to the Department of Justice.

“I’ve had the opportunity to meet with his mother [Katherine],” Cloud said. “We’ve looked at the case as well. Everyone else who was prosecuted under that crime could not even connect themselves to Mark, and Mark’s passport shows that he wasn’t even in the country when the alleged crimes were committed.

“This shows you where China is, and they collect human life as political pawns for their own nefarious uses, and Mark Swidan needs to be released.”

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