A Prisoner of China. An American Scandal.

Katherine Swidan with the archive of notes and artworks her son Mark has sent to her from a Chinese prison over the past decade. (Carter Johnston for The Free Press)
For 11 years, Mark Swidan has languished in a Chinese prison on charges no one believes. ‘If this were a politically connected person, he would have been out a long time ago.’
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There are at least 54 Americans being wrongly held overseas today. They haven’t broken any laws. They haven’t received a fair hearing. They have been rendered political pawns, detained in dingy cells in places like Cuba, Iran, Russia, and China.
Last week, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich became one of them when he was taken by agents in Yek…
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