Vue lecture

Elizabeth Tsurkov Recounts 2 1/2 Years of Captivity

Elizabeth Tsurkov, a citizen of Israel and Russia, recounts a harrowing story of cruelty, survival, U.S. diplomatic pressure and, finally, release from the grip of a group backed by Iran.

© Avishag Shaar-Yashuv for The New York Times

Elizabeth Tsurkov, an Israeli Russian doctoral student at Princeton University, endured two and a half years of captivity in Iraq, held in solitary confinement by a militia backed by Iran.
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