Dear friend,

Welcome to our last Hostage Briefing newsletter of the year. The holiday season is a difficult time for hostages and their families. It's a time when families should be able to come together and make memories - something too many families around the world won't be able to do this year. Next week will mark four years since Paul Whelan has been wrongfully imprisoned in Russia. He was left behind in a prisoner swap between the U.S. and Russia earlier this month that freed fellow American, Brittney Griner. On our latest episode, we speak to Paul's sister, Elizabeth Whelan once again to find out how we can help. We also have updates on other hostage cases in our 'Hostage News' section below.

New Episode Out Now

On 8th December 2022, American citizen and WNBA athlete Brittney Griner was freed in a prisoner swap between the United States and Russia. Unfortunately, American citizen and Marine veteran Paul Whelan also held in Russia was left behind - again. The U.S. State Department classified both Brittney and Paul as "wrongfully detained". Next week will mark four years since Paul was arrested and wrongfully imprisoned in Russia.

On this episode, we speak again to Paul's sister, Elizabeth Whelan to find out what it was like for Paul and the Whelan family to be left behind again. We also discuss the U.S. politicians who only started to mention Paul's name publicly after Brittney's release for the purpose of criticising the Biden administration and how this division within U.S. domestic politics plays into the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In addition to being a U.S. citizen, Paul Whelan is also a citizen of Great Britain, Canada and Ireland. We discuss with Elizabeth what the Russian, American, British, Canadian and Irish governments should do as well as what journalists and the public can do to help bring Paul Whelan home.

Hostage News

Olivier Vandecasteele, Belgian hostage in Iran sentenced to 28 years in prison

• On 14 December, the BBC reported that 41-year-old Belgian aid worker, Olivier Vandecasteele was sentenced to 28 years in prison on unknown charges by Iranian authorities. Olivier was arrested in Tehran in February this year. He worked for six years in Iran for the Norwegian Refugee Council. According to this article, this news comes days after Belgium's constitutional court halted a controversial prisoner exchange treaty. Iran wants to swap Olivier for its alleged top intelligence official in Europe, Assadollah Assadi who was given a 20-year jail sentence in Belgium last year for plotting to bomb an exiled Iranian opposition group's rally.
• The Free Olivier Vandecasteele campaign released a petition update on the same day. If you haven't already, please do sign this petition calling for his release.

Two Americans held by the Taliban in Afghanistan have been released

• On 20 December, CNN reported that two Americans who had been detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan have been released. According to the article, one of the Americans is filmmaker Ivor Shearer, who was arrested along with his Afghan producer, Faizullah Faizbakhsh, in August this year while filming in Kabul, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. He was filming where a US drone had killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. CNN is withholding the name of the second American at the request of the family at this time. The status of Faizbakhsh was not immediately clear.

Jorg Lange, German humanitarian worker held hostage in the Sahel since 2018 freed

• On 10 December, France 24 reported that a German humanitarian worker held hostage in the Sahel for more than 4.5 years has been freed. Jorg Lange, 63 "can return to his family", said Bianca Kaltschmitt, director general of the NGO Help, thanking Germany's foreign ministry, criminal police and the authorities in Mali, Niger and other neighbouring countries for contributing to his release. Lange was kidnapped by armed men riding motorcycles on 11 April 2018 near Ayorou in western Niger, in a region near the Malian border. His Nigerian driver was freed shortly afterwards but according to German media, Lange was sold to the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara group.

Kai Li, American businessman from New York held in China

• American citizen, Kai Li from New York has been wrongfully imprisoned in China since September 2016. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has called for his immediate release. On 20 December, the Free Kai Li Twitter account tweeted that after the U.S. Embassy's latest consular call with Kai, he is now locked 24/7 in a tiny cell with five other prisoners due to COVID-19 restrictions. There is no exercising, no moving about, no showering and he doesn't know if he can call home for the holidays.
• We interviewed Kai's son, Harrison Li in April this year. You can listen to that interview here to find out how you can help bring home Kai Li.

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Ways To Help

• Please send a card or letter to Paul Whelan for the holidays using this address: American Citizen Services/PNW, Consular Section, 5430 Moscow Place, Department of State, Washington, DC 20521 -5430
• If a citizen of your country is held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad, write to your politicians asking what is being done to bring them home and what are they doing to make sure this doesn't happen again to other citizens.
• Hostage diplomacy doesn't happen to everyone but it can happen to anyone. Raise awareness of hostage diplomacy. Share our episodes. Share this newsletter. If you listen to our episodes on Apple podcasts, please do give us a good rating and a review. It tells the algorithm that our podcast is good and makes it available to many more listeners.

This newsletter is the best way to keep up to date with our work including the cases we're working on. If you haven't already, please do subscribe to this newsletter here. If you have any questions, you can get in touch here.

Thank you for taking the time to learn more about hostage diplomacy and for showing the hostages and their families that they're not forgotten, that they're not alone, that there are good caring people out there who want to help.

Best Wishes,

Daren Nair

Creator & Host of Pod Hostage Diplomacy.