China releases U.S. pastor David Lin from prison after 18 years following Sullivan visit

Sept. 16 (UPI) -- Pastor David Lin, a U.S. citizen, was released from Beijing on Sunday after 18 years in prison for reasons the American government said were unjustified.

Lin's daughter, Alice Lin, confirmed her father's release to Politico, saying the State Department informed her Saturday that he would be released and arrive in Texas on Sunday.

"No words can express the joy we have -- we have a lot of time to make up for," she said.

She added she believed that U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan raised her fathers' case when traveled to China to meet with its Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Lin, a California pastor, was arrested shortly after arriving in Beijing to start a Christian training center. In 2009, a court handed him a life sentence for fraud. Since then, the U.S. government has listed him as wrongfully detained.

"This was a long time coming," John Kamm, executive director of the Dui Hua Foundation, told CBS News of Lin's release. The foundation has spent years keeping Lin's incarceration in front of U.S. officials.

On Wednesday, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China will hold a hearing on Americans considered unjustly detained in China -- Mark Swidan and Kai Li.