Former Kata’ib Hezbollah hostage Elizabeth Tsurkov described severe torture and sexual abuse during her captivity in Iraq in a BBC Newshour interview this week.
Kidnapped in 2022 and held until September 2025, Tsurkov spent over 900 days in captivity.
The Russian-born researcher initially entered Iraq as a doctoral student at Princeton, with the goal of conducting research for her dissertation. She entered the country in January; members of Kata’ib Hezbollah, a section of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), kidnapped Tsurkov only months later.
Tsurkov kidnapped by Iraqi militia
On the day in March she was kidnapped, Tsurkov believed she was to meet “a friend of a friend,” who never showed up to their meeting. Instead, two men dragged her into a car, beat and sexually abused her, and took her to a location outside Baghdad, according to the BBC Newshour interview.
By Tsurkov’s own account, the discovery of her Israeli citizenship caused the guards to torture her. She told the BBC that for the first four and a half months of captivity, her captors trussed and hung her from the ceiling, and whipped, electrocuted, and sexually abused her.
She described “the Scorpion,” consisting of “[getting] handcuffed with [your] shoulders crossed behind the back,” as one of the more cruel methods of torture employed. Called aqrab in Arabic, the method has also been used by ISIS to torture detainees, according to Amnesty International.
What is Kata’ib Hezbollah?
Kata’ib Hezbollah, the group that held Tsurkov, is part of the PMF network of Iran-backed IRGC-affiliated militias in Iraq. Earlier this year, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on Iraq to disarm the PMF. Designated as a terrorist group by the US and other countries, the group’s close connection to the Iraqi government may have had an effect on her release, which Iraq's prime minister took credit for.
As Tsurkov pointed out, interrogations consisted of more than just beatings, and were also shaped by the group’s belief in fringe conspiracy theories.
"I had to learn all sorts of weird conspiracy theories,” she said. “They live in an alternative reality in which Israel and the United States and Saudi Arabia together created ISIS, and the US spreads homosexuality through single sex cafes."
Additionally, she invented fake confessions in order to avoid torture, which she said led to more torture as the group demanded more information.
“They would torture me so I would give them these confessions that I would invent, and then they simply got greedy,” she told the BBC.
“So, they would return, hang me by my wrists, and start beating me with a stick and using even harsher methods of torture and saying, 'I want something new.'"
Recovery follows rough treatment
Following what she described as threats from US President Donald Trump, Kata’ib Hezbollah released Tsurkov in September 2025. The group has not taken explicit responsibility for her kidnapping.
Despite her release, Tsurkov said the three years she spent in captivity have taken a lasting toll on her health. “My health is not great,” she told the BBC, adding that therapy has become central to her recovery. The experience, she said, fundamentally changed the way she understands trauma:
“Nothing prepares you for the horror of undergoing it.”