Princeton researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov released from militia captivity in Iraq

An Israeli-Russian graduate student from Princeton University in New Jersey who was kidnapped by a Shia militia in Iraq in 2023 has been released from captivity and is now in US custody, President Donald Trump and the student's family said on Tuesday.

Elizabeth Tsurkov was kidnapped by the militia Kataib Hezbollah during a research trip to Iraq in March 2023, according to officials.

Elizabeth Tsurkov, who holds Israeli and Russian citizenship, spent more than 900 days in custody after disappearing in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, as she was pursuing a doctorate focused on sectarianism in the region.

Trump said on social media that Tsurkov "is now safely in the American Embassy in Iraq after being tortured for many months".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Trump for his help in gaining Tsurkov's release, a senior US official said.

The release came days after Trump signed an executive order paving the way for the US to designate countries around the world as state sponsors of wrongful detention and impose punitive measures on those it deems are wrongfully holding Americans.

Global Reach, a nonprofit that works for the release of Americans held in captivity abroad, said in a statement that Tsurkov had received a medical assessment at the embassy.

“My entire family is incredibly happy. We cannot wait to see Elizabeth and give her all the love we have been waiting to share for 903 days,” said a statement from her sister, Emma, who lives in California and has campaigned for her release.

She thanked, among others, Adam Boehler, the US government's special presidential envoy for hostage affairs.

"We cannot wait to see Elizabeth and give her all the love we have been waiting to share for 903 days," Emma Tsurkov said.

In a statement on social media confirming Tsurkov's release, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani said: "We reaffirm once again that we will not be lenient in enforcing the law and upholding the authority of the state, and we will not allow anyone to tarnish the reputation of Iraq and Iraqis."

A source in the powerful Iraqi group Kataeb Hezbollah said that academic Elizabeth Tsurkov was released to avoid any "conflicts" in Iraq and facilitate the withdrawal of US forces.

Kataeb Hezbollah did not claim Tsurkov's abduction, but the source told AFP that she "was released according to conditions, the most important of which was to facilitate the withdrawal of US forces without a fight and to spare Iraq any conflicts or fighting."

"She was released and not liberated. No military operation was carried out to free her," he said.

Under the administration of former President Joe Biden, Tsurkov's family struggled to get Washington to throw its weight behind efforts to secure her release.

US officials then said there was little they could do because she is not an American citizen. A Trump administration hostage negotiator travelled to Iraq in February to push for Tsurkov's release, according to sources.