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Political kidnapping is kidnapping which is conducted to obtain political concessions from security forces or governments.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(April 2022) |
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| Kidnapping |
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| Types |
| By country |
Political kidnapping is kidnapping which is conducted to obtain political concessions from security forces or governments.
 | This section needs expansionwith: more details as this barely scratches the surface. You can help by adding to it. (October 2020) |
Political kidnapping can have vast impacts, such as the kidnapping of Chiang Kai-Shek creating the Second United Front and uniting China against Japan at the start of World War 2.
There were series of kidnapping of senior diplomats during the 1960s and 1970s. [1] By the end of the 1960s, political kidnappings were evidently profitable. [2]
For a long period, political kidnapping was usually a Latin American phenomenon, with some few overlooked incidents in Europe. After the 1990s, when the interest of tourists and businessmen increased in Asian and Pacific countries, the kidnappings also became a means to support the political motives of newly established dissidents groups, such as Abu Sayyaf's group, which has conducted numerous political kidnappings. [3]
Arab history features a concept known as 'desert diplomacy'. Per the Gulf Research Center, "The objective of this traditional activity was to apply pressure on hostile tribesmen by issuing demands, the fulfillment of which would lead to the safe return of their son or daughter. Demands would be, as they are today, financial, moral or political; although hostages would rarely be killed. Nevertheless, retention of the hostage for some years was not unusual. The kidnappings taking place in Iraq today are ones far departed from the traditional practices of Arab (and indeed, other nations ) tribal warfare which were governed by a strict protocol, ensuring decent, gentle and safe treatment of the captives." [4]
Various groups in the Palestinian Resistance and in the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) employed political kidnapping as a method.
Al-Qaeda began using political kidnappings around 2004.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has kidnapped many journalists, including Ruhollah Zam, who fled to France and was kidnapped back to Iran for his execution, according to Reporters Without Borders. [5] Iran has 'kidnapped' the bodies of dead journalists, holding them until relatives deny that the journalists were killed by security forces. [6]
Activists, especially female activists, have been kidnapped by Iran. [7] Masih Alinejad was to be the victim of a kidnapping conspiracy. [8] [9] [10]
Political kidnapping happened in Latin America before the 1970s, but it was then that the number of kidnappings accelerated.
According to the New York Times, "So far this year [August 1970], there have been at least 18 successful or attempted kidnappings in Latin America. Among Latin Americans, the victims have included a former President of Argentina, the Foreign Minister of Guatemala and the former Foreign Minister of Colombia. Among foreigners, the victims have included ambassadors, consuls, labor, commercial and military attaches and even consultants with no governmental positions." [11] Kidnappings were used as a tactic by urban guerrilla fighters. Stated goals included release of political prisoners, for ransom, embarrassment of officials, and straining ties between countries.
Often, though not exclusively, kidnappers attack while targets are travelling in cars. A car or truck carrying terrorist forces will force the target's car off the road, proceeding to hold them at gunpoint until they surrender. Frequently, cars used are stolen then abandoned, which hampers police investigations.
| | This section needs expansionwith: more incidences. You can help by adding to it. (April 2022) |
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| Person | Year | Location | Motive | How | Result | Main Article |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richard the Lion-Hearted (English king) | 1192 | Vienna, Austria | Ransom- $15 million demanded | While travelling through Vienna (returning from Third Crusade), Duke Leopold recognized him through his disguise. He was handed to Henry VI, and a ransom was demanded. [12] [13] | Ransom paid in 1194 by merchants of England | |
| Ion Perdicaris (Greek-American playboy) Cromwell Varley (Perdicaris's stepson) | 1904, May 18 | Perdicaris's Summer home, Tangier, Morocco | Demands of Sultan of Morocco by Ahmed al-Raisuni. | Ahmed al-Raisuni and a group of bandits took Perdicaris and his stepson from their house. | Multinational involvement, especially by the United States. Raisuni's demands were mostly met, and Perdicaris was released on June 24, 1904. He later said of Raisuni, "I do not regret having been his prisoner for some time". [14] | Perdicaris affair |
| Chiang Kai-Shek | 1936 | China | Demand to create the Second United Front Chiang viewed the CCP as a greater threat than the invading Japan. His subordinates kidnapped him to demand a ceasefire between the KMT-CCP. | The Second United Front was created after two weeks of discussion. Chiang was kept under house arrest for many years after. | Xi'an Incident | |
| Adolf Eichmann (High-ranking Nazi officer) | 1960 | Kidnapped from Argentina, brought to Israel | Nazi officer; brought to Israel to stand trial for crimes against humanity. | The Eichmann Trial was carried out. | Eichmann Trial | |
| *†John Gordon Mein (US ambassador to Guatemala) | 1968, August 28 | Guatemala | Attempt at exchanging for Camilo Sanchez, a local guerilla leader | Attempted kidnapping. After Mein tried escaping, he was shot multiple times. | First US ambassador killed on the job. [15] FAR (Rebel Armed Forces) claimed responsibility. [16] | See: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1968/08/30/77094413.html https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1968/08/29/90669093.html |
| Lieut. Col. Donald J. Crowley (US air attaché in the Dominican Republic) | 1970, March 24 | Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic | Kidnapped from polo field | |||
| †Pedro Eugenio Aramburu (Argentinian president) | 1970, May 29 | Buenos Aires, Argentina | Kidnapped from own house by two Monteneros posing as army officers. | Pedro Eugenio Aramburu#Death | ||
| Daniel Pereira Manelli (Uruguayan judge) | 1970, July 28 | |||||
| Brigadier General Dozier | 1981, December 17 | Kidnapping of Brigadier General Dozier | ||||
| Abílio dos Santos Diniz | 1989, December | Brazil | Kidnapping of Abílio dos Santos Diniz | |||
| *Gretchen Whitmer (Governor of Michigan) | 2020 | Michigan, United States | Foiled by FBI arrests before planned date | Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot | ||
| *Masih Alinejad (Anti-Iran Activist) | 2021 | Brooklyn, New York | Foiled before planned date. | Masih Alinejad#Kidnapping plot |
Abu Sayyaf, officially known by the Islamic State as the Islamic State – East Asia Province, was a Jihadist militant and pirate group that followed the Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam. It was based in and around Jolo and Basilan islands in the southwestern part of the Philippines, where for more than five decades, Moro groups had been engaged in an insurgency seeking to make Moro Province independent. The group was considered violent and was responsible for the Philippines' worst terrorist attack, the bombing of MV Superferry 14 in 2004, which killed 116 people. The name of the group was derived from Arabic abu, and sayyaf. As of April 2023, the group was estimated to have about 20 members, down from 1,250 in 2000. They used mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army is a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian conflict starting in 1964. The FARC-EP was officially founded in 1966 from peasant self-defense groups formed from 1948 during the "Violencia" as a peasant force promoting a political line of agrarianism and anti-imperialism. They are known to employ a variety of military tactics, in addition to more unconventional methods, including terrorism.
The Japanese Red Army was a militant communist organization active from 1971 to 2001. It was designated a terrorist organization by Japan and the United States. The JRA was founded by Fusako Shigenobu and Tsuyoshi Okudaira in February 1971, and was most active in the 1970s and 1980s, operating mostly out of Lebanon with PFLP collaboration and funding from Muammar Gaddafi's Libya, as well as Syria and North Korea.
A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized—such as a relative, employer, law enforcement, or government—to act, or refrain from acting, in a certain way, often under threat of serious physical harm or death to the hostage(s) after expiration of an ultimatum. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition defines a hostage as "a person who is handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war."
In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful abduction and confinement of a person against their will. Kidnapping is typically but not necessarily accomplished by use of force or fear; i.e., it also usually involves menace/assault or/and battery; but it is still kidnapping without those additional elements, or if a person is enticed to enter the vehicle or dwelling willingly.
The Islamic Jihad Organization, was a Lebanese Shia militia known for its activities in the 1980s during the Lebanese Civil War.
Members of the Iraqi insurgency began taking foreign hostages in Iraq beginning in April 2004. Since then, in a dramatic instance of Islamist kidnapping they have taken captive more than 200 foreigners and thousands of Iraqis; among them, dozens of hostages were killed and others rescued or freed. In 2004, executions of captives were often filmed, and many were beheaded. However, the number of the recorded killings decreased significantly. Many hostages remain missing with no clue as to their whereabouts. The United States Department of State Hostage Working Group was organized by the U.S. Embassy, Baghdad, in the summer of 2004 to monitor foreign hostages in Iraq.
Six western tourists and their two guides were kidnapped in the Liddarwat area of Pahalgam in the Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir, India on 4 July 1995 by forty militants from the Kashmiri Islamist militant organisation Harkat-ul-Ansar, under the pseudonym of Al-Faran, in order to secure the release of Harkat leader Masood Azhar and other militants.
Since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been accused by several countries of training, financing, and providing weapons and safe havens for non-state militant actors, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and other Palestinian groups such as the Islamic Jihad (IJ) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). These groups are designated terrorist groups by a number of countries and international bodies such as the EU, UN, and NATO; however, Iran considers such groups to be "national liberation movements" with a right to self-defense against Israeli military occupation. These proxies are used by Iran across the Middle East and Europe to foment instability, expand the scope of the Islamic Revolution, and carry out terrorist attacks against Western targets in the regions. Its special operations unit, the Quds Force, is known to provide arms, training, and financial support to militias and political movements across the Middle East, including Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Yemen.
The Lebanon hostage crisis was the kidnapping in Lebanon of 104 foreign hostages between 1982 and 1992, when the Lebanese Civil War was at its height. The hostages were mostly Americans and Western Europeans, but 21 national origins were represented. At least eight hostages died in captivity; some were murdered, while others died from lack of adequate medical attention to illnesses. During the fifteen years of the Lebanese civil war an estimated 17,000 people disappeared after being abducted.
Masih Yazidnejad is an Iranian-American journalist, author, and women's rights activist. Alinejad works as a presenter/producer at VOA Persian Service, a correspondent for Radio Farda, a frequent contributor for Manoto television, and a contributing editor for IranWire. Alinejad focuses on criticism of the status of human rights in Iran, especially women's rights in Iran. Time magazine named her among its 2023 honorees for Women of the Year.
This is a list of known foreign hostages in Pakistan.
The 2014 rescue mission in Syria was an American led effort to locate and rescue hostages being held by Islamic State (IS) forces. Plans to rescue the hostages were accelerated after the execution of journalist James Foley, Steven Sotloff, and Kayla Mueller by IS militants. A total of 14 hostages were held hostage by the IS at an undisclosed location. Though no soldiers were killed, the mission failed to locate and rescue the hostages.
Jaish ul-Adl, or Jaish al-Adl, is a Sunni Islamic group and Baluchi separatist organization that operates mainly in the Sistan and Baluchestan province in Iran, where there is a substantial Baloch population and a porous border with Pakistan.
The Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy is an annual human rights summit sponsored by a coalition of 20 non-governmental organizations. Each year, on the eve of the United Nations Human Rights Council's main annual session, activists from around the world meet to raise international awareness of human rights situations.
The Sistan and Baluchestan insurgency is an ongoing low-intensity asymmetric conflict in Sistan and Baluchestan Province between Iran and several Baloch Sunni militant organizations designated as terrorist organizations by the Iranian government. It began in 2004 and is part of the wider Balochistan conflict.
The 2017 Tehran attacks were a series of two simultaneous terrorist attacks that occurred on 7 June 2017 that were carried out by five terrorists belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) against the Iranian Parliament building and the Mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini, both in Tehran, Iran, leaving 17 civilians dead and 43 wounded. The shootings were the first terrorist attacks in Tehran in more than a decade, and the first major terror attack in the country since the 2010 Zahedan bombings.
Ruhollah Zam was an Iranian activist and journalist. Best known for operating a Telegram channel named 'Amadnews', which he founded in 2015, Zam played a high-profile role in the 2017–2018 Iranian protests, to which he devoted special coverage at the time. In June 2020, an Iran court found him guilty of "corruption on earth" for running a popular anti-government forum, which officials said had incited the 2017–2018 Iranian protests. He was sentenced to death by an Iranian court and was executed on 12 December 2020.
Kidnapping is a major problem in Nigeria in the early 21st century. Kidnapping by bandits and insurgents is among the biggest organised or gang crime in Nigeria and is a national security challenge.
Pouria Zeraati is an Iranian-British journalist and reporter for Iran International. In March 2024, Zeraati was hospitalized due to being stabbed by unidentified assailants upon leaving his London residence.
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