Which U.S. citizens are still detained abroad?

Journalist Evan Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and journalist Arsu Kurmasheva are now in the U.S. as part of a historic prisoner swap earlier this week. Russia was released.

But even as the U.S. government celebrates their return, dozens of Americans are still being held hostage or wrongfully detained in 16 countries around the world.

According to the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation (named after a journalist kidnapped and killed in Syria), more than 40 Americans are unjustly imprisoned abroad, many after sham trials. Imprisoned for many years.

The majority of cases cited in the report (78%) involved wrongful detention by state actors such as China, Iran or Russia. The rest are cases of hostage-taking by non-state actors, including Hamas, which currently holds at least five U.S. citizens hostage.

But the true number of people detained abroad is likely higher.

Some family members of U.S. detainees have avoided the spotlight, while others have not yet been deemed wrongfully detained by the United States.

Here are some cases we know of:

Americans still imprisoned in Russia include Ksenia Karelina, a 32-year-old amateur ballet dancer and California spa employee.

In February, Russian authorities announced that Ms. Kalelina, who holds dual citizenship and was visiting family in the country, had been arrested on charges of treason.

The charges allegedly stemmed from a donation of $51.89 (£40.43) to a New York charity that purchased equipment for Ukrainian emergency workers.

After the U.S.-Russian prisoner swap, Ms. Karelina’s boyfriend, Christopher van Heerden, told Reuters he was disappointed that Ms. Karelina was not included in the deal.

“I’m happy for those Americans who have returned to their families,” he said. “It makes me hopeful. At the same time, I’m heartbroken and sad… She’s not on the list.”

Ms Karelina’s trial is expected to begin next week.

Although the U.S. government has yet to comment publicly on the case, Van Heerden said they were aware of it and were trying not to “upset” Russian authorities ahead of the trial.

Austin Tice, a 31-year-old freelance journalist and former U.S. Marine, was kidnapped in August 2012 while working in Syria.

While no government or group claimed responsibility for his disappearance, U.S. officials quickly said they believed he was being held by the Syrian government — a position they have maintained since then.

The Syrian government said it did not know the whereabouts of Tais.

In 2022, US President Biden met with the Tice family and stated that the United States was “certainly” aware that he was being held by the Syrian government.

In May, Biden again mentioned that Mr. Tice was “held hostage.”

Twelve years later, he is now believed to be the longest-detained American journalist in history.

Marc Fogel, 63, a teacher at the Anglo-American School in Moscow, was arrested at the airport in August 2021 and accused of carrying a small amount of medical marijuana prescribed in the United States.

He is currently serving a 14-year sentence and has reportedly been teaching English to inmates.

After the US-Russian prisoner exchange, Ms Fogel’s family said in a statement that he was “left behind again”.

“Mark has been unjustly detained for too long and must be prioritized in any swap negotiations with Russia, regardless of his level of notoriety or sobriety,” the statement added.

On August 1, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stated that the United States was “actively working to obtain his release.”

The next day, President Biden said “we’re not giving up on this” when asked about the Fogle case.

Texas businessman and graphic designer Mark Swidan has been jailed in China since 2012 on drug charges.

A United Nations review of the allegations later found that Svedan was in China purchasing flooring products when he was arrested but was not in China when he was charged with the crime.

The U.S. government believes he and two other Americans were wrongly detained in China.

In April, his mother Katherine Swidan told BBC US partner CBS that the family was “extremely concerned and concerned that Mark would take his own life”.

The family also claimed that Svedan was tortured while in Chinese custody, including suffering broken hands and a dislocated kneecap.

“His leg was so swollen that they probably wouldn’t be able to get the brace off it without amputating it,” Ms Swedan told a news conference in February. “He was sick. He only ate bread. ”

New Yorker Ryan Corbett was arrested in August 2022 after returning to Afghanistan, which he had left the previous year when the Taliban took power.

He had previously lived in the country for many years and managed and supervised programs for a number of NGOs.

To date, Mr Corbett has not been charged with a crime. Taliban officials told CBS that he was involved in “anti-national” activities.

He is one of three U.S. citizens the U.S. government believes are being held by the Taliban, who have expressed interest in releasing them in exchange for Afghan citizens still in U.S. custody.

In March, his family said they received a “disturbing phone call” from Mr Corbett, who was traveling from Afghanistan, in which he “displayed a severely deteriorated mental state”.

“I hope the president realizes that failure to take action to bring Ryan home could have catastrophic consequences,” his wife, Anna, told CBS.

Although U.S. officials have held several meetings with Taliban representatives to secure his release, they have not said whether any progress has been made.

Several U.S. lawmakers, including New York Rep. Claudia Taney, have also publicly called for his release.