Zion Church founder Pastor Ezra Jin to receive 2026 Lantos Human Rights Prize; eight church leaders remain detained

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On Friday, October 9, 2026, the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice announced in Washington that it will award the 2026 Lantos Human Rights Prize to Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri, founder of Beijing's Zion Church. According to the Foundation, the announcement coincides with the one-year anniversary of Jin's arrest: in October 2025, he was arrested together with dozens of Zion Church clergy and members during a sweeping crackdown on Christians in China, detained for about nine months, and released on July 3, 2026 to join his family in the United States. The Foundation says President Trump raised his case directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his May visit to Beijing. The award ceremony will be held on December 10 in Washington. [1][3]

The eight Zion Church leaders the Foundation says remain detained are Pastor Wang Lin, Pastor Yin Huibin, Pastor Lin Shucheng, Pastor Gao Yingjia, Pastor Liu Zhenbin, Pastor Wang Cong, Elder Wang Zhong and Ms Wu Qiuyu. In an investigative report published September 21, the human rights organisation Fortify Rights said the eight were arrested in a nationwide roundup in October 2025 and are now held in Beihai, Guangxi (men in Beihai No. 2 Detention Center, women in Beihai No. 1), charged with "illegally using information networks", "illegal business operations" and "fraud" — all charges connected to the online worship sessions they led. Nine other church leaders detained at the same time were released on bail on June 18 but continue to face similar charges. [1][2]

In a statement released by the Foundation, Jin said the award gives him a chance to raise awareness of the severe persecution faced by people of faith in China: "I am especially focused on advocating for the release of my eight brothers and sisters from Zion Church, who remain unjustly imprisoned. I will not rest from speaking out until they are free and reunited with their loved ones." Foundation president Katrina Lantos Swett said Jin "has inspired people throughout the world with his unyielding courage and unshakeable faith in the face of persecution." [1]

Background: Zion Church was founded in Beijing in 2007 and grew into one of China's largest unregistered Protestant "house church" networks. According to the Foundation, after Jin refused in 2018 to allow surveillance cameras inside the church, the authorities officially shut Zion Church down, placed Jin under heavy surveillance and barred him from leaving the country; the church then went "underground" and grew to thousands of members across many cities. In August 2026 Fortify Rights interviewed relatives of six detained pastors and leaders, who described arbitrary arrests, mistreatment, religious persecution and poor detention conditions; the organisation also recorded that Ruth Wang, a lawyer representing the detained church leaders, fled to Taiwan on September 4, 2026 to seek asylum, saying the authorities had threatened to shut down her law firm in retaliation for her work on the case. [1][2]

The Lantos Human Rights Prize has been awarded annually since 2009 and is named for Congressman Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to the U.S. Congress. Past laureates include the Dalai Lama, Elie Wiesel, Rebiya Kadeer and Joshua Wong. [1]

Verification note: this record documents the verifiable public act — the Lantos Foundation's announcement of the award (published on its own website and reported by The Christian Post). The Foundation's account of the arrests, the length of detention and the Trump-Xi discussion is that organisation's own statement; the list of eight detainees and their "still detained" status comes from public statements by the Foundation and Fortify Rights, and this site has not been able to independently verify their current detention status. This site will follow the December ceremony and the judicial proceedings of the eight. [1][2][3]