based on criteria in the Levinson Hostage-Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act, which had been signed into law in 2020. By declaring an American “wrongfully detained,” the U.S. government asserted that one of its citizens was being unlawfully held as a political prisoner, as a way for a foreign country to meddle in U.S. policy. The secretary of state—in 2022, that was Antony Blinken—made the determination.
