Answer to prayer: Pastor Brunson joins list of captured Americans freed

Americans across the country and of all faith backgrounds can celebrate the return of our fellow citizens held unjustly overseas –some for practicing their faith. Many prayers have been answered.

In October 2016, on the night of his eldest son’s birthday, American pastor and evangelist, Andrew Brunson, was arrested by the Turkish government on charges of espionage and terrorism. Pastor Brunson, a North Carolinian, had worked in Turkey as a missionary for more than two decades, and he denied being involved in any political matters. His arrest was a breach of every person’s inherent right to practice religious freedom, a right that is still violated by oppressive regimes around the world. Pastor Brunson was sentenced to ten years in Turkish prison on these false charges.

While Pastor Brunson was in prison, President Trump and his administration, including Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, made the release of American hostages a top foreign policy priority. The U.S. has since successfully secured the release of Americans being held unjustly by other countries.

The administration acted to impose sanctions on senior Turkish officials to increase pressure on the country to release Pastor Brunson. In response, on Oct. 12, Turkey relented and ordered his release. Pastor Brunson has said his faith helped him survive the ordeal: “The way I survived that was by just spending hours in prayer, just to keep my sanity.” The President and American officials deserve credit for tenaciously sticking up for religious freedom and for not giving up on captive Americans.

American charity worker Aya Hijazi, a Virginian who founded an organization to help impoverished children in Cairo, was released from Egyptian custody in April 2017 after three years in captivity on fabricated human trafficking allegations. President Trump had continued efforts to free her despite President Obama’s earlier unsuccessful attempt to secure her release.

In May of this year, during Secretary Pompeo’s visit to North Korea, three Americans held hostages by North Korea, Tony Kim, Kim Hak-song, and Kim Dong Chul, were freed in response to U.S. pressure. Kim Dong Chul had been sentenced to ten years of hard labor and was the longest-held American detainee in North Korea. He spent 900 days in detention before being freed.

The captivity suffered by Americans abroad is a stark reminder that we are blessed with the freedom to practice our religion and entitled to due process. Every American should be heartened that this administration has undertaken strong diplomatic efforts– negotiating from a position of strength–to prioritize the return of our fellow citizens, whose prayers to be free have been answered.