How a Former Hostage Helped Build a U.S. Case Against a Top Iraqi Militia Figure

Elizabeth Tsurkov, the Israeli researcher who was held captive in Iraq and later released, said that even under the harshest conditions, she never stopped investigating. In an interview she gave yesterday (Sunday) to the Saudi television channel "Al Arabiya," Tsurkov revealed how she managed to collect valuable intelligence about her captors during her imprisonment, information that directly assisted U.S. law enforcement authorities.

According to Tsurkov, after she was freed, she turned over the details she had gathered to the FBI. That information became a central part of the evidence built against Mohammed Baqir Saad Daoud al-Saadi, a senior member of the Shiite Iraqi terrorist organization "Kataib Hezbollah," who was recently arrested by U.S. authorities.

Tsurkov said in the interview that her captors, members of the pro-Iranian militia that kidnapped her, showed severe security negligence that worked in her favor. "The stupidity of my captors, who spoke freely in front of me, is what allowed me to gather a great deal of information about them and about the organization’s activities," she said. According to her, the guards and key figures in the organization made no effort to hide anything from her, and discussed sensitive matters and the identities of senior militia leaders in her presence.

During the interview, Tsurkov leveled serious accusations against al-Saadi, describing him as a central figure in a series of assassinations and kidnappings of Iraqi political activists and opposition figures, and even as being involved in an attempt to assassinate U.S. President Donald Trump.

These revelations are being published as legal proceedings against al-Saadi move forward in the United States. American court documents reveal that, alongside Tsurkov’s testimony and the details she provided, prosecutors also based their suspicions against him on a series of recordings and secret conversations. In addition, as part of the investigation, the FBI used an undercover agent who managed to get close to al-Saadi and obtained admissions from him, as well as information about security activity and assassinations inside Iraq.