The Lawfare Podcast Lawfare Daily: Elizabeth Tsurkov on Her Captivity in Iraq
Jan 28, 2026
Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Princeton PhD candidate who was held 903 days by an Iranian-backed militia, recounts her captivity and how humor helped her survive. She describes militia incompetence, being lured and seized, observing captors’ psychology after October 7, and how U.S. and other governments responded to secure her release.
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Writing Through Captivity
- Elizabeth Tsurkov wrote much of her Atlantic piece mentally while in solitary and later outlined it in a prison notebook.
- Humor sustained her sanity during early torture and became a tool of resistance and vindication after release.
Family History Of Jokes As Resistance
- Elizabeth described her mother jailed in the USSR for distributing political jokes and samizdat.
- The KGB interrogators forced her mother to recite jokes as evidence and ended up laughing during the interrogations.
Kidnapped While Doing Field Research
- Elizabeth was conducting PhD fieldwork in Iraq and relied on local activist networks to recruit interviewees.
- Militias planted agents among activists who lured her out and kidnapped her near her home.
