- Title: 'Anxiety, taxes and fame'- Journalist reflects on post-wrongful detention life
- Date: 2nd August 2024
- Summary: MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES (AUGUST 2, 2024) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) SOUNDBITES FROM JOURNALIST RELEASED FROM IRAN IN 2016 AFTER WRONGFUL DETENTION, JASON REZAIAN, SAYING: "You can't return to the life that you had before. It's not possible. It doesn't exist anymore. And there's a certain amount of notoriety which ensures that when you finally feel c
- Embargoed: 17th August 2024 00:24
- Keywords: 24 prisoners Evan Gershkovich Jason Rezaian Paul Whelan Russia US prisioner swap prisoner exchange
- Location: MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES
- City: MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES
- Country: US
- Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,North America,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001407902082024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Jason Rezaian, a journalist who was released from Iran in 2016 after being wrongfully detained, said anxiety, a struggle with fame and every day bureaucracy are some of the challenges facing the recently released prisoners who arrived at the U.S. on Thursday (August 1).
In an interview with Reuters, Rezaian who was arrested in July 2014 accused of espionage, said that returning to a normal life is impossible, as the person's previous existence is irretrievably altered and their new public recognition can be overwhelming.
Upon returning home, detainees face a myriad of practical issues from expired personal documents to unresolved financial obligations. Rezaian urged the U.S. government to the reintegration process for returning citizens as peaceful and smooth as possible.
U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich and ex-U.S. Marine Paul Whelan returned to the United States on Thursday, hours after being freed from Russian detention in the biggest prisoner exchange between the two countries since the Cold War.
The White House said it negotiated the trade with Russia, Germany and three other countries. The deal, worked on in secrecy for more than a year, involved 24 prisoners - 16 moving from Russia to the West and eight sent back to Russia from the West.
They included Vadim Krasikov, convicted of murdering an exiled dissident in Berlin, the German government said.
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