Three American citizens who had been detained for years in China were released, a State Department spokesperson said Wednesday. They are Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung.Li, 62, who is from Long Island,

Mark Swidan, Kai Li, and John Leung have been released from detention, a spokesperson for the National Security Council said.

The three Americans released by Beijing are Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung, all of whom had been designated by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained by China. Swidan had been facing a death sentence on drug charges while Li and Leung were imprisoned on espionage charges.