This month marks a year since Evan Gershkovich and Elizabeth Tsurkov were deprived of their freedom
Families and colleagues of these two Jews — a reporter imprisoned in Russia and an academic kidnapped in Iraq — don’t want them forgotten
Supporters of Elizabeth Tsurkov, an academic kidnapped in Iraq a year ago, held a rally at the Iraqi Embassy in Washington, Mar. 21, 2024. Her sister Emma is standing center, with glasses. Courtesy of Dafna Lender
By Beth Harpaz March 21, 2024
Amid continuing headlines about Hamas’ Oct. 7 kidnappings in Israel, efforts are also underway to bring attention to the plights of two Jews who were deprived of their freedom a year ago this month: a Jewish reporter imprisoned in Russia and a Jewish academic kidnapped in Iraq.
Both the reporter, Evan Gershkovich, 32, and the academic, Elizabeth Tsurkov, 37, were taken away in March 2023. Gershkovich’s loved ones are organizing a social media campaign, a read-a-thon, and swimming and running events in his honor. Tsurkov’s sister held a press conference outside the Iraqi Embassy in Washington, D.C., Thursday, asking supporters to pressure U.S. officials to intervene on her behalf.
About Evan Gershkovich
Gershkovich was detained on March 29, 2023, by Russia’s Federal Security Service in the city of Yekaterinburg while reporting for The Wall Street Journal. He was accused of espionage, and is the first U.S. citizen to be held on Russian soil on that charge since the Cold War.
Gershkovich, his family and the Journal deny the charges against him, and the U.S. State Department says he was wrongfully detained. Gershkovich was credentialed by Russia’s foreign ministry to work as a journalist in Russia. Before reporting for the Journal, he worked in Moscow for Agence France-Presse and The Moscow Times. He’s fluent in Russian; his parents were Soviet Jewish emigres. Gershkovich is being held in Russia’s notorious Lefortovo prison.
About Elizabeth Tsurkov
Tsurkov was kidnapped March 21, 2023, from a cafe in Baghdad. She was in Iraq doing research authorized by Princeton University for a doctoral dissertation about sectarianism in the Middle East. In addition to her academic work, Tsurkov is a journalist who wrote a number of op-eds for the Forward.
Her family believes she is being held by a radical Shiite militia, but other than a proof-of-life video of her released in November, there have been no ransom demands and no other communication from her captors.
A U.S. resident since 2017, Tsurkov was born in Russia and emigrated to Israel with her parents when she was 4. Efforts to involve government officials in pressing for her release are complicated by her dual Russian-Israeli citizenship. Israel has no diplomatic relations with Iraq, and Tsurkov’s parents were Soviet dissidents, imprisoned in Russia for a year with Natan Sharansky.
For Evan, a swim, a run and a read-a-thon
Dow Jones, the company that publishes the Journal, is inviting the public to support several efforts taking place this month to bring attention to Gershkovich’s plight.
🧵Nearly a year ago, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was detained in Russia during a reporting trip.
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) March 20, 2024
He remains in a Moscow prison.
We’re offering resources for those who want to show their support for him. #IStandWithEvan https://t.co/ll83UMXlp5 pic.twitter.com/iAmDq2BOvj
A 24-hour read-a-thon of Gershkovich’s reporting will air March 27-28 on YouTube, while a run in his honor is being organized in various locations for March 27. For a social media campaign, supporters are being asked to post group pictures of #IStandWithEvan shirts, pins or other memes on March 29 at 10:30 a.m. ET.
His affection for beaches named Brighton in both England and in Brooklyn, New York, will be celebrated with a global “Swim with Evan” March 23. Swimmers will take dips at Brighton beaches in California, Australia, South Africa, Canada and New Zealand, in addition to the New York and British beaches. The Brooklyn beach is in a neighborhood known for its lively Russian Jewish population.
For Elizabeth, pressuring officials
Tsurkov’s family and friends created a website with facts about her case and sample letters that can be sent to members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Committee asking them to pressure Iraq to free her.
At the rally Thursday, her sister Emma said Kataib Hezbollah, the radical Shiite militia group that kidnapped her, is tied to the Iraqi government: Six members of the group’s political wing belong to the governing coalition of Iraq’s prime minister, Shia’ Al Sudani. She said Sudani is due to visit Washington in the near future and she implored the White House to demand her sister’s release. Sudani, she said, “could free her if he wanted.”
She added: “The U.S. is sending hundreds of millions of dollars each year to Iraq. We have a right to expect them to not fund terrorists who are targeting U.S.-based researchers and journalists.”
Elizabeth Tsurkov is fluent in Arabic, but is shown speaking Hebrew in the proof-of-life video released a month after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks in Israel. Apparently coerced by her captors, she criticized Israel’s war in Gaza in the video and said she went to Iraq as a spy.
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