A group of Democrats in the US Congress are urging President Joe Biden to put pressure on Iraq to free Russian-Israeli researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov, who was abducted in Baghdad last year.
A letter signed by 16 members of Congress was sent to Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken ahead of a visit from Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.
Tsurkov, a doctoral student at Princeton University, went missing in late March last year while doing research for a PhD dissertation on Shia movements in Iraq
Israeli authorities believe she is being held hostage by Kataib Hezbollah, a pro-Iran militia in Iraq, according to the Times of Israel.
Iraqi authorities began their own investigation but have not reached a breakthrough and an Iraqi satellite network showed footage of her in which she pled for her release while “admitting” to being a Western spy.
Israel and the US have both denied claims that she is a spy for either government and the members of Congress have referred to the allegations as “categorically false and coerced.”
A Channel 12 report cited by the Times of Israel said Tsurkov initially made contact with her captors as part of her research project, who then decided to kidnap her upon discovering she was Israeli.
