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The Foley Flame: Illuminating Updates
December 2024
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Dear Foley Foundation friends,
Look at what YOU have made possible! Your generous support has allowed the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation to make our hostage advocacy and journalist safety curriculum ever stronger. More than 140 fellow Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad have returned home since 2015! Just this past Thanksgiving, three U.S. nationals long held in China were freed! (see story below)
On behalf of our tiny but mighty team at the Foley Foundation, we want to thank you for giving hope to families with loved ones held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad and for supporting journalists who dare to seek the truth at the risk of their own lives.
We welcome President-elect Trump and his team as they assume office and ask him to continue to prioritize the return of U.S. unjustly held captive abroad. More than 34 fellow Americans are counting on you!
Friends, as you consider your end of year giving, thank you for remembering the Foley Foundation. It is only with generous benefactors like you that we can sustain our critical work. Your generous commitment to the safety of others gives us hope for 2024!
Sincerest gratitude, blessings and joy to you all,
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Diane M. Foley
Founder & President, James W. Foley Legacy Foundation
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As 2024 draws to an end, we look back at a busy year. We rejoiced with those who came home, mourned the ones who didn't come back, and never forgot those who are still captive. We pray for their safe and prompt return.
Click the button below to get the whole story.
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CHINA RELEASES THREE U.S. CITIZENS | |
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On November 27, American citizens John Leung, Kai Li, and Mark Swidan, who had been held in Chinese prisons for many years, were released in a diplomatic agreement between the United States and China.
Swidan, who was spotlighted in our September Foley Flame, had faced a death sentence on false drug charges, while Li and Leung were imprisoned on equally fabricated espionage charges. The release follows that of three Americans from Russia in August and is the fruit of sustained efforts to negotiate the release of American hostages and wrongful detainees by the Biden administration.
Welcome home, John, Kai and Mark!
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TIGRAN GAMBARYAN RELEASED FROM NIGERIA | |
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On October 24 Tigran Gambaryan, an American citizen and crypto crime investigator, was released by the Nigerian government on medical grounds. He had been held for eight months on false charges of money laundering, believed to be a tactic by the Nigerian government to put pressure on Gambaryan’s employer, Binance about compliance with domestic regulations.
Welcome home, Tigran!
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SPOTLIGHT: AMERICANS HELD IN AFGHANISTAN | |
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The United States does not recognize the de facto ruling Taliban as Afghanistan’s legitimate government. This means that the U.S. has no in-country diplomatic presence and relies upon Qatar as the United States’ “protecting power” in Afghanistan. This complicated history serves as the backdrop to the cases of four Americans the Foley Foundation assesses to be held hostage or wrongfully detained in Afghanistan.
Paul Overby, an author, disappeared in Afghanistan in May 2014, while researching a new book. Ryan Corbett, a humanitarian and businessman, was kidnapped on August 10, 2022. On that same day, the Taliban security service arrested Afghan-American businessman Mahmood Shah Habibi. Four months later, on December 5, 2022, Taliban forces detained George Glezmann, an airline mechanic and American tourist.
The Foley Foundation urges the Biden administration to prioritize securing the release of these four Americans.
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FOLEY FOUNDATION RESEARCH | |
"Hostage taking and wrongful detention of Americans abroad has a profound impact on families and pose a threat to our national security. We believe rigorous research is the foundation of good policy, and sound policy is needed to prevent more Americans from being taken, to secure the release of those detained today, and to deter captors from further aggression" | |
For six years we have conducted research on the effectiveness of U.S. efforts to protect Americans abroad, recover, and support American hostages and wrongful detainees and their families. | |
We have ambitions to bolster our portfolio of research products in 2025. | |
Early in the new year, we will release a statistical paper focused on the hostage and wrongful detention landscape and how it changed in 2024. | |
We are interviewing experts on China and Russia to identify creative solutions to prevent and deter these countries' use of "hostage diplomacy" and formulate release strategies. This work will inform country-specific research notes. | |
The 2025 Bringing Americans Home report - that will include a focus on the reintegration challenges faced by returned hostages - will be released in the summer. Data collection for that report is underway. | |
POLICY & LEGISLATIVE PROGRESS | |
Based on the strength of our independent, nonpartisan research, the Foley Foundation recommends policy and legislative changes to speed the return of Americans unjustly held captive abroad and deter future hostage-taking. | |
At the time of publication, several bills with bipartisan support that incorporate many of the recommendations we have issued in the last few years are under consideration by Congress. On December 3, the Foundation issued a statement summarizing the legislative provisions we believe are needed to support the families of hostages and survivors of captivity, recover those taken, and protect Americans abroad from becoming victims. | |
As the 118th Congress concludes, we hope several of our recommendations will be codified into law. Readers who wish to help are encouraged to contact their members of Congress and ask them to support these bills. | |
A Rescue Mission on Independence Day, 2014 | |
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On July 4, 2014, a large U.S. operation unfolded near Raqqa, Syria. It was composed of several dozen soldiers with air support. Its mission: to rescue James Foley and the other hostages believed to be held there. The mission was executed with precision, but the hostages were not there.
We are forever grateful to all who risked their lives to save Jim’s. That their mission did not attain its objective does not detract from the courage and professionalism of all who were a part of it.
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Ten years later, in October 2024, the Foley Foundation was presented with a U.S. flag that was flown over the theater of operations. We are honored by this gift and grateful to Lee Falgoust of Pennsylvania for generously presenting it. The flag had been given to him by one of the participants in the operation. To find out more about the operation, please watch the video below. (7 minutes) | |
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