Where Wrongful Detention is on the Rise

Fifty-four Americans were wrongfully detained or held hostage overseas in 17 countries in 2024, according to an annual report from the James Foley Foundation.

“Despite some success in freeing the wrongfully detained, there was little progress in freeing American hostages,” wrote researcher Elizabeth Richards in the 2024 Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Landscape report published by the foundation. “In addition, statistical analysis of the data used for this report suggests that more Americans were wrongfully detained between 2015 and 2024 than in the 10 years prior (2005-2014).”

Here are some other topline findings from the report, which was released in March 2025.

Types of Detentions

Most arrests and detainments of Americans abroad are done so for legal reasons, such as for committing a criminal offense in the country they are visiting. About 98 percent of all detentions of Americans abroad fall into this category. But others are detained for illegitimate reasons.

• Hostage taking: Defined by the Foley Foundation as Americans held by non-state actors, specifically terrorist organizations, militants, criminal groups, pirates, or unknown individuals. The U.S. Department of State, however, defines this as “the unlawful abduction or holding of a U.S. national against their will by a non-state actor in order to compel a third person or governmental organization to do or abstain from doing any act as a condition for the release of the person detained.”
  
  
• Possible wrongful detention: Accounted for about 1 percent of all Americans detained abroad in 2024. These cases involved unclear circumstances and limited information about the individual being detained.
  
  
• Probable wrongful detention: Accounted for about 0.70 percent of all Americans detained abroad in 2024. These cases met Levinson Act criteria, and countries differentiated their treatment of the detainees.
  
  
• Wrongful detention: Account for about 0.01 percent of all Americans detained abroad in 2024. The U.S. secretary of state has the sole authority to designate an American as being wrongfully detained.

The Levinson Act

The Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act (the Levinson Act) became law on 7 December 2020. It’s named in honor of former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who was abducted in Iran in 2007 and was the longest held hostage in U.S. history. Levinson was declared dead in 2020.

The act provides a framework for the U.S. secretary of state to review cases and determine if someone is wrongfully detained. Due to national security reasons, the secretary does not disclose exactly how these determinations are made, but the elements of the framework may include:

1. If U.S. officials receive or possess credible information that indicates a detained individual is innocent.
   
   
2. The detained individual is being held solely—or substantially—because he or she is a U.S. national.
   
   
3. The individual is being detained solely—or substantially—to influence U.S. government policy or secure economic or political concessions from the government.
   
   
4. The person appears to be detained because they attempted to obtain, exercise, defend, or promote First Amendment rights of freedom of the press, freedom of religion, or the right to peacefully assemble.
   
   
5. The individual is detained in violation of the laws of the country detaining him or her.
   
   
6. Journalists and nongovernmental organizations raised legitimate questions about the detained individual’s innocence.
   
   
7. The U.S. mission in the country where the person is being detained received credible reports that the detention is a pretext for an illegitimate purpose.
   
   
8. The U.S. Department of State determined in its annual human rights reports that the country’s judicial system is not independent, is susceptible to corruption, or is not capable of issuing just verdicts.
   
   
9. The person being detained is held in inhumane conditions.
   
   
10. Officials detaining the individual have not followed the due process of law or done so in a manner to render the person’s detention arbitrary.
    
    
11. The person will likely require U.S. diplomatic engagement to be released.

Not All Definitions are Equal

The U.S. secretary of state has the ultimate authority to designate someone that the U.S. government considers wrongfully detained. The secretary does not include individuals subject to exit bans in his or her determination.

• Exit bans cover people “who are not imprisoned but are unable to leave the country in which they are located.”
  
  
• The Foley Foundation includes individuals subject to exit bans in its total count of people who are wrongfully detained.
  
  
• In 2024, exit bans accounted for 25 percent—or 9 Americans—wrongfully detained in the foundation’s report.

The United States is also the only country to use the term “wrongful detention.” Nearly all other countries use the term “arbitrary detention” to describe these individuals’ situations.

Detentions in 2024

Based on the above definitions:

• 9 Americans were held hostage in 2024
  
  
• 45 Americans were wrongfully detained overseas

The year 2024 “concluded with 36 Americans still held hostage (5) or wrongfully detained (31) in 15 countries,” according to the report. “These 36 Americans had been held for an average of 5.9 years, with a duration of detention that spans from just under two months to over 22 years.”

China and Russia continue to account for roughly one-third of all known cases of Americans being wrongfully detained overseas. The Foley Foundation estimates that the true number of American detainees in these countries is likely higher “given the limited access that U.S. Consular Affairs has to Americans being detained in those countries.”

Based on open-source information and family communications, the report designated these countries as places where more than one American were wrongfully detained in 2024:

How Individuals were Released

Seventeen Americans were released (three hostages, 14 wrongful detainees) in 2024 from China, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan.

Of the 17 total releases:

• 47 percent were the result of a prisoner exchange
  
  
• 18 percent were due to unknown circumstances
  
  
• 17 percent were released by their captors
  
  
• 12 percent involved diplomatic engagement for release
  
  
• 6 percent involved humanitarian release measures

Those released included individuals who were part of the largest U.S.-Russia prisoner exchange in the post-Soviet era, which took place on 1 August 2024 after 13 months of negotiations. Four Americans were released from Russian custody—Paul Whelan, Vladimir Kara Murza, Evan Gershkovich, and Alsu Kurmasheva—and 20 other individuals were also exchanged.

“Central to the exchange was Vladimir Putin’s desire for the release of Vadim Krasikov, a Russian assassin held in Germany for murder since 2019,” according to the report. “Putin had long sought the release of Krasikov, originally proposing to exchange Whelan for Krasikov in 2022. Initially, the U.S. government did not see a path forward, as Germany held Krasikov. When it became clear that Krasikov was key to securing the release of the wrongfully detained Americans, the U.S. government worked to find a creative solution.”

Preventing Wrongful Detention

Given the uptick in wrongful detentions during the past 10 years, the report makes a few recommendations to the U.S. government to counter the threat.

Prevention. Clearly articulate descriptions of the threat of wrongful detention without using legal jargon. This will help the public understand what wrongful detention is and the threat it poses.

Deterrence. Find effective deterrence mechanisms to limit wrongful detentions. This could include building international alliances that counter hostage-taking and wrongful detention, as well as new powers in presidential executive orders.

Strategy. Conduct a whole-of-government study to develop a “proactive national strategy and a comprehensive set of policies, tools, and capabilities” for addressing wrongful detention.

Megan Gates is editor-in-chief of Security Technology. Connect with her at [email protected] or on LinkedIn.