Story by Eric Lebson, Opinion Contributor • 21m ago
We can hate the idea that Americans are being taken hostage by foreign governments — a special category of hostage-taking called “wrongful detention” — though this practice is likely to continue until we find the right means of disincentivizing such behavior. But any policy to disincentivize other nations should not be done to the detriment of Americans who are arrested abroad purely for political reasons.The countries that engage in wrongful detentions do not care much about being repudiated from the majority bloc of nations that adhere to the rule of law, so admonishment does little to affect their calculus. The group of nations is admittedly small, including China, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria and Venezuela. A July 2022 executive order called on the State Department to name and shame these countries in their travel alerts, but also called for actions to hold individuals accountable for
participating in them.
The high-profile arrest of WNBA athlete Brittney Griner did wonders to raise awareness of the practice of wrongful detentions for many Americans. But the fact is, Americans travel for numerous reasons to safe places and not-so-safe places. Curtailing travel to certain locations can be the right move, but it can deprive Americans of awareness of the world, our businesses of economic opportunities, and journalists of the ability to make the world aware of the reality on the ground during war, political turmoil and natural disaster.
While risky behavior overseas certainly can increase the chances of an arrest, the opposite is not always true. If a foreign government wants an American visitor in custody, they will find or create a basis for making the arrest. I have watched as American families anguish over the developments each day of their loved ones’ trials, wanting to mortgage their homes to get the best lawyers, but at the same time knowing the outcomes are predetermined. The trial is just a veneer that the foreign government uses to argue they are a rule-of-law-based society.The foreign government may seem as though it is acting erratically but there often is a logic to their misbehavior. It may sound counterintuitive but, in wrongful detention cases, this can provide an advantage. These cases always start by considering what the foreign government wants and why what it seeks is important to them. Not every case is solved with a prisoner exchange. Sometimes the foreign government seeks a policy change, the removal of sanctions, the release of encumbered assets and, yes, sometimes it is the release of someone in U.S. custody. Sometimes the foreign government just wants the U.S. to pay attention to them. n Russia, three Americans were designated as wrongful detainees in the past few years. In order, Paul Whelan, Trevor Reed, and Brittney Griner were all arrested — Whelan on alleged espionage charges, Reed for allegedly assaulting a Russian police officer, and Griner for drug possession.