Ex-Iran Captive Speaks on Gershkovich, Others

It's been more than eight years since Iran released Jason Rezaian in a prisoner swap with the United States, but if anyone understands what Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, and Alsu Kurmasheva have ahead of them after arriving back in the US, it's the Washington Post columnist. In his new op-ed for the Post, Rezaian writes that he's "thrilled and relieved" to see those three Americans, as well as Post colleague Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian-UK national, finally out of Russia's clutches, and he hopes their families get to take a moment "to rejoice and celebrate their loved ones' safe return." But Rezaian also sends up a warning on the challenges ahead "after the euphoria wears off," as the recently freed prisoners haven't been engaged in everyday, routine living for months, or even years.

Rezaian details his own stumbling blocks once he returned back to the States after his year-and-a-half captivity on espionage charges and other supposed crimes. He'd amassed IRS penalties, for example, for not paying his taxes on time during his absence, as well as a destroyed credit rating, as other bills had also gone unpaid. But he says the mental toll was especially difficult—he found it hard to focus early on, and he was barely sleeping and having nightmares. "Instant celebrity—even notoriety—is something most people aren't equipped to manage," he writes. "I certainly wasn't." Rezaian expects Gershkovich and the others to face much of the same, and he wants the US government to step up to help. "Considerable resources were expended in the effort to negotiate their release," he writes. "It is important now to invest more to return them to normal life." His piece in full here. (More Jason Rezaian stories.)