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As Russia returned hostages who were unjustly held in a prisoner swap, a reporter who once was held hostage himself warned that their challenges are just beginning.
Three American citizens and one American green-card holder who were unjustly imprisoned in Russia were released from Russia in a prisoner swap on Thursday: Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva, and Vladimir Kara-Murza.
Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian argued in an opinion piece that America must put more focus on aiding these former hostages “reintegrating into society.” Rezaian was held captive and psychologically tortured by the Iranian government for 544 days from 2014 to 2016, and he wrote about the hurdles he faced after he returned to the United States.
“Having been cut off from society for months or years, the returning hostages will face difficulty returning to ordinary life,” he warned. “When I returned home from Iran in 2016 after being imprisoned for nearly a year and a half, I found that the IRS had charged me with thousands of dollars in penalties for not filing my taxes on time. The usual penalties had compounded.”
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He went on to note that all of this was worsened by his mental state still reeling from his time being imprisoned.
“I was sleeping less than three hours a night, repeatedly waking from nightmares that I was back in prison. During the day, I was distracted and having trouble concentrating. So I neglected to sit down and address the problem,” he wrote.
In addition, his foreign-born wife’s immigration papers had expired, forcing the couple to start from scratch, and his credit rating faced serious consequences.
While those returning from Russia may not be facing exactly the same challenges, they could be similar or worse.
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“The U.S. government can do more to support the social reintegration of returned hostages,” he argued. “It can, to start, provide point people to help clear the burdens that have piled up — from renewing expired driver’s licenses and accessing health care to dealing with back taxes and financial liabilities.”
He credited some politicians for being part of the solution, recalling that, “In May, the Stop Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act introduced by Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) passed the Senate unanimously. The House should approve the legislation without delay.”
“As a free society, we owe the victims of this abuse more than our support and empathy,” he wrote. “Considerable resources were expended in the effort to negotiate their release. It is important now to invest more to return them to normal life.”
