Photo via pyongyang.ru

American Christian freed from North Korea

An American Christian imprisoned in North Korea has been released following a humanitarian effort by former US president Jimmy Carter, reports Jeremy Reynalds, correspondent for ASSIST News Service.

Human rights organization Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) said in a news release it welcomes the release of Aijalon Mahli Gomes, but strongly urges the international community to intensify pressure on North Korea for the release of thousands of prisoners still languishing in the nation.

According to news reports, Gomes returned to Boston Friday, where Gomes was reunited with his family.

CSW said Gomes was detained in North Korea since entering the country on Jan. 25 by crossing the border from China. He was arrested by the North Korean authorities and sentenced to eight years in a labor camp. He was also ordered to pay a fine of $700,000 for illegal entry and unspecified “hostile acts.”

CSW said Gomes was believed to have traveled to North Korea to protest against the regime's violations of human rights. Other sources say Gomes’ reasons for crossing into North Korea remain unclear.

He was the fourth US citizen to be detained by the North Korean government since Jan. 2009, following Robert Park and the journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, all of whom were released after several months in North Korean custody.

CSW’s National Director Stuart Windsor said in a news release,“While CSW welcomes the release of Aijalon Mahli Gomes, we remain deeply concerned about the plight of thousands of other prisoners in North Korea’s brutal gulag.”

Windsor added, “CSW is calling for the North Korean regime to open its prison camps to international human rights monitors and strongly urges the United Nations to establish a commission of inquiry into crimes against humanity perpetrated by the regime.”

CSW is a human rights organization which focuses on religious freedom, works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs and promotes religious liberty for all.

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TAGS: North Korea Jimmy Carter Christian Solidarity Worldwide Aijalon Mahli Gomes human rights Laura Ling Euna Lee religious freedom

[08/30/2010]

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