Iran, Israel in talks on deal to free abducted academic - report

Regional foes Iran and Israel are holding indirect talks on an “exchange deal” to secure the release of an abducted Russian Israeli academic in return for the release of an Iranian operative being held in Israel, the London-based, Saudi-financed newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported on Sunday.

According to the newspaper, the talks are being undertaken by a non-Arab state, probably Russia.

The newspaper cited Iraqi sources as saying that the kidnapping of researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov in Baghdad in March was aimed at exerting pressure on Israel to revive stalled negotiations to release an Iranian detainee under arrest in Israel. The newspaper said the Iranian in question might be Yousef Shahbazi Abbasalilo, whom Israel announced in June it had nabbed on Iranian soil for planning attacks on Israeli targets in Cyprus.

“Elizabeth Tsurkov is still alive, and we hold Iraq responsible for her safety and well-being,” the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.

The statement said that Tsurkov, a dual Russian Israeli citizen doing her doctorate in political science at Princeton University in the United States, entered Iraq “on her Russian passport at her own initiative pursuant to work on her doctorate and academic research on behalf of Princeton University.”

Israel has denied that Tsurkov has any connection with the Mossad, Israel’s international intelligence agency.

Netanyahu’s office accused the pro-Iran Iraqi Shiite militia Kata’ib Hezbollah (Hezbollah Brigades) of abducting Tsurkov and holding her in Iraq. Other reports have suggested that she might have been moved to Iran.

Iraq has made no official comment on Tsurkov’s disappearance.

Travel restrictions for Israel's passport holders

Israeli passport holders cannot enter Iraq, and last year Iraq passed a law criminalizing ties with Israel. The law applies to foreigners working in Iraq and makes violations punishable by death or life imprisonment.

An Iraqi journalist in Baghdad, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Media Line there is little publicly available information on the kidnapping. He said that Iraqi officials were aware of the abduction, which took place in Baghdad’s upper-class Karrada neighborhood, and were following it closely.

He also said the Iraqi government had created a team to follow the case and that the Iraqi prime minister’s office was supervising the investigation. Although the team had received many leads and ordered raids in Baghdad and other locations, it had met with little success, he said.

The statement said that Tsurkov, a dual Russian Israeli citizen doing her doctorate in political science at Princeton University in the United States, entered Iraq “on her Russian passport at her own initiative pursuant to work on her doctorate and academic research on behalf of Princeton University.”