Princeton doctoral student kidnapped in Iraq by Iran-backed militia

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A Princeton doctoral student has been kidnapped in Iraq while doing field work in the country, according to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday.

“Elizabeth Tsurkov is still alive and we hold Iraq responsible for her safety and well-being,” Mr Netanyahu wrote in a statement.

Ms Tsurkov is an Israeli-Russian dual citizen, the Israeli prime minister wrote.

She is also a fellow at the Washington DC-based think tank, New Lines Institute, and is a contributor to New Lines magazine. They wrote they hadn’t heard from her since 19 March, when she said she wanted to leave the Middle East and return to Princeton to write her dissertation.

They added that just over a week after hearing from her, they “learned from our sources that a pro-Iranian militia had kidnapped her in Baghdad.” The writers underscored that Ms Tsurkov’s work “poses no threat to anyone.”

The magazine also wrote that Ms Tsurkov “is an outspoken critic of all three of the major likely players involved in negotiating her release: Israel, Iran and Russia.” The group said that they reached out to US and foreign officials and will continue to do so.

They urged the United States to get involved in her release, because despite the fact she is not a US citizen, she “is very much a part of America,” they wrote.

“She works with a Washington think tank, writes for an American magazine and studies at Princeton University. She deserves America’s every effort to bring her to safety,” New Lines magazine writers said.

Ms Tsurkov’s family also confirmed details of her disappearance in a statement. “She was kidnapped in the middle of Baghdad, and we see the Iraqi government as directly responsible for her safety,” the family’s statement said. “We ask for her immediate release from this unlawful detention.”