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The number of U.S. citizens considered to be an”unfair” detained by foreign governments has increased by 580% over the past decade, the James Foley Foundation said Wednesday in a study.
Its fourth annual report warns that more and more countries are detaining people unjustly and states that at least 64 innocent people are currently victims of unfair and prolonged arrests, averaging four years.
From 2012 to 2022, there were on average 34 Americans wrongfully held by foreign governments each year, up from an average of five annually between 2001 and 2011.
Historically, according to his analysis, China and Iran were responsible for the majority of “wrongful” detentions. The former accounted for almost 20% of all cases, with at least four a year since 2007, and the latter 12%, with at least one since 2002, but more recently the numbers have increased in Venezuela and Russia.
“Venezuela has wrongfully detained or held at least one U.S. national every year since 2013 and has arrested at least four in 2022. Russia has unjustly detained one American since 2017,” notes the foundation, created in honor of journalist James Foley, killed by the Islamic State in 2014 after more than a year of kidnapped.
Its report mentions among others Emad Shargi, a businessman arrested in Iran in 2018 while he was with his family and who remains in Evin Prison, located in Tehran, on trumped-up charges, despite the Iranian Revolutionary Court having proven his innocence, as recalled.
From 2001 to 2005, only four countries unjustly held Americans, but in 2022 at least 19 detained or held such nationals in captivity, bringing the total number of nations that have conducted unjust detentions since 2001 to 27.
The report adds that although the number of Americans taken hostage by non-governmental actors has declined by nearly 40% in a decade, the downward trend may not be long-lasting because it may have resulted from the impact of the pandemic and the potential temporary decline in territorial control exercised by terrorists and other armed groups.
Most Americans have been kidnapped in ten countries, including Iraq, Nigeria, Yemen and Afghanistan, although the total number of kidnappings by non-state groups expands to 30 countries.
