(11 Nov 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tel Aviv, Israel - 6 November 2025
1. Wide of Elizabeth Tsurkov, former captive of Iraq, on sofa
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Elizabeth Tsurkov, former hostage in Iraq:
"Basically, I was dragged into an SUV by maybe two men who were basically grabbing me into the car. I resisted and I screamed, and they were passing through checkpoints. They were whispering to each other "checkpoint , checkpoint." So I knew obviously that they're not the State."
3. Close of Tsurkov's eyes ++MUTE++
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Elizabeth Tsurkov, former hostage in Iraq:
"I kept screaming. They kept trying to silence me. They would put their hand on my mouth and would beat me really, really ferociously all over my body. Then also to silence me, basically they sexually assaulted me, but I kept screaming."
5. Wide of Tsurkov
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Elizabeth Tsurkov, former hostage in Iraq:
"During the first month I was starved, but I was not physically abused. But then after a month they opened my phone. This is when they discovered that I'm Israeli."
7. Close of books on shelves ++MUTE++
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Elizabeth Tsurkov, former hostage in Iraq:
"The torture was incredibly brutal. It involved different forms of torture that are used in Iraqi prisons, including something known as Ta’aliq, which is basically you are hung by your wrists -- they are handcuffed behind your back -- and then you're simply lifted. There's basically a chain that lifts you up. One of the guards basically strings you up on that chain, and you are then hanging all the weight is basically on your wrists. This is what created the nerve damage that is likely permanent in my arms."
9. Close of Tsurkov's hands
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Elizabeth Tsurkov, former hostage in Iraq:
"They electrocuted me. They constantly touched me inappropriately. They forced me into positions that were very painful to me because of my herniated back. They would observe me in cameras in my cell and they would see that I avoid certain types of... I avoid squatting, for example, so they would force me to squat positions because they saw that it was painful to me."
11. Wide of Tsurkov
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Elizabeth Tsurkov, former hostage in Iraq:
"After they checked me, Mark Savaya came. Who is a friend of the president. He is from Michigan. He's an Iraqi American. And he participated in the electoral campaign for (U.S. President Donald) Trump in 2024. He worked around Arab American communities in Michigan to flip them, to support the Republicans, and was quite successful at it. And basically, Trump sent him on a mission to Iraq. This is something that he told me afterwards. He sent him to Iraq and during a meeting with (Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia') Sudani that also concerned other matters with the Iraqi Prime Minister, he basically made this ultimatum: "Trump is pissed. You have to release Elizabeth within a week or we will bomb you." And the threat was incredibly effective because a week later I was released. Mark stayed in Iraq waiting for me to get out. He didn't travel. He didn't leave. He stayed in Iraq and then he came, he took me, so he was the first American I met."
13. Various of Tsurkov looking on phone
STORYLINE:
Ta’aliq — “to hang” in Arabic — is Iraqi slang for a torture technique that hoists victims into the air, their hands handcuffed above their heads.
The akrab, or “scorpion,” is the more painful version, in which the victims' hands are handcuffed together behind their back before they're hoisted.
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