A Turkish court on Friday released U.S. Pastor Andrew Brunson with credit for time served on charges of terrorism and espionage. Brunson, originally from Black Mountain, N.C., lived in Turkey for 23 years and pastored Izmir Resurrection Church. He faced a 35-year sentence on phony charges until witnesses against him reversed their testimony at a dramatic hearing Friday. A judge sentenced Brunson to three years and one month in prison but allowed him to go free since he already spent almost two years in detention.

The lawyer for U.S. Pastor Andrew Brunson, who remains under house arrest in Turkey, filed a petition for his release with Turkey’s highest court on Wednesday.

Turkish authorities arrested Brunson in December 2016 following a failed coup attempt, accusing him of espionage and terror-related charges, which the U.S. government says have no merit and experts call “outrageous.” He faces up to 35 years in prison if found guilty. Authorities placed him under house arrest on July 25 due to health issues.

For the past 12 years, Frank Hu (name changed for security), a pastor in central Taiwan, has led short-term mission trips to the Chinese province of Henan where he organizes camps for up to 140 college students.

This summer, I’ve read two collections of short stories: The Execution of Mayor Yin and Other Stories from the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution by Chen Jo-hsi and The Accusation: Forbidden Stories from Inside North Korea by Bandi. The two books were written in different places and times, but both tell what it’s like for ordinary people to live under a communist regime.

On Sunday, Chinese authorities officially banned one of the country’s largest unregistered house churches, Beijing’s Zion Church. Two days later, authorities detained senior pastor Ezra Jin and other Zion leaders, the latest move in the government’s recent crackdown on Christianity.

At age 17, Kawasaki Eiko boarded a ship from her home in Japan and headed to North Korea, a land depicted as paradise on earth with free education, healthcare, food, and ample jobs. The year was 1960, and Kawasaki and hundreds of other Zainichi Koreans—ethnically Korean residents in Japan—were desperate to leave the poverty and discrimination they faced in Japan after World War II. Propaganda by North Korea and groups representing Koreans in Japan provided a seemingly simple solution: move to North Korea.

The start of a new school year brings varied emotions: excitement to reunite with friends, the dread of homework, or, for parents, the relief of an empty, quiet house. But for students and parents at unregistered Christian schools in China, another feeling reigns: uncertainty. Will their school remain open all year, or will the government try to shut it down?