Kidnapped Princeton Student Freed After 903 Days in Captivity

In a significant development, a Princeton University graduate student who was kidnapped in Iraq over two years ago has been freed and turned over to U.S. authorities. Elizabeth Tsurkov, who holds dual Israeli and Russian citizenship, was abducted in Baghdad in 2023 while conducting research on sectarianism in the region. She spent more than 900 days in captivity, during which she was reportedly "tortured for many months" by her captors, identified as the Shiite Muslim militant group Kata'ib Hezbollah.

Tsurkov's release was announced on Tuesday by her family and President Donald Trump, who stated that she had been freed and handed over to the American Embassy in Baghdad. The release came as a result of negotiations, not a military operation, according to two Iraqi militia officials. One of the conditions for her release was the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, which had been agreed upon between Washington and Baghdad last year.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani praised the efforts of the country's security services in securing Tsurkov's release, reaffirming that Iraq will not tolerate any compromise in enforcing the law or undermining the nation's reputation. The expert on regional affairs, who was widely quoted by international media, was last active on social media in March 2023, just days after undergoing spinal cord surgery.