Hostage diplomacy, alsohostage-diplomacy,[1] is the taking ofhostages fordiplomatic purposes. While common in the ancient world, it is a controversial practice in modern diplomacy. Modern countries regarded as having engaged in hostage diplomacy include China, Turkey, Iran, North Korea, and Russia.
The custom of taking hostages was an integral part of foreign relations in theancient world. This long history of political and military use indicates that political authorities or generals would legally agree to hand over one or usually several hostages in the custody of the other side, as guarantee of good faith in the observance of obligations. These obligations would be in the form of signing of a peace treaty, in the hands of the victor, or even exchange hostages as mutual assurance in cases such as anarmistice.[2]
Inancient China, during the period ofEastern Zhou,vassal states would exchange hostages to ensure mutual trust. Such a hostage was known aszhìzǐ (質子, "hostage son"), who was usually a prince of the ruling house. During theHan dynasty, taking unilateral hostages consisting ofzhìzǐ was a standard practice for thecentralized monarchy to control smalleryí states.[3] SomeChinese classic texts, however, were against the hostage system.[3] On the famous exchange of hostages between Zhou and Zheng (周鄭交質), theZuo zhuan criticized the incidence:
If there be not good faith in the heart, hostages are of no use. If parties act with intelligence and with mutual consideration, their actions under the rule of propriety, although there be no exchange of hostages, they cannot be alienated. (信不由中，質無益也，明恕而行，要之以禮，雖無有質，誰能間之)[4]
TheRomans were also accustomed to taking the sons of tributary princes and educating them inRome, thus holding a guarantee for the continued loyalty of the conquered nation and also instilling a possible future ruler with Roman ideology. This practice was also adopted in the early period of theBritish occupation of India, and by France in relations with Arab nations in North Africa.[5]
In contemporary times, hostage diplomacy is the taking of hostages for diplomatic purposes.[6] It has a negative connotation, associated with criminal hostage-taking, and often manifests as foreigners being arrested ontrumped-up charges. The diplomatic hostages are then held as bargaining chips.[7]
In December 2023, fouragents of theFrench secrets servicesDGSE has been imprisoned by theBurkina Faso authorities, at their arrival at Ouagadougou, capital ofBurkina Faso. Local authorities argues "they were not sent by the classical process", and "having several information about local contacts in the country" into their phones.[8]
French press says that observers comments this situation due to "the massive influence ofRussia'sWagner militaries, forcing the local autorithies to choose betweenRussia orFrance, not both, as anultimatum".DGSE recognized that several errors has been made, but the two points keys of this story is bothRussia's military influence firstly, plus secondly the condemnation of thecoup d'état ofOuagadougou in 2024 (two coups) byFrench President, against instigators of those coups.[9]
AfterFrance agreed withMorocco aboutSahara management toMorocco's one instead ofAlgeria's proposition,Morocco's diplomacy services were up to helpFrance. When coup happened atOuagadougou,Mohammed VI only asked, duringBurkina Faso coups, to "avoid blood as possible", without condemning any parties. At end of 2024, a year after their imprisonment and few weeks after better diplomacy betweenMorocco andFrance,Morocco was up to convinceOuagadougou to freed those agents. They have been imprisoned about a year.[10]
According toThe Guardian, China has a track record of hostage diplomacy but has repeatedly denied engaging in the practice.[7] From 1967 to 1969, theChinese Communist Party kept two dozen British diplomats and civilians asde facto hostages. The British were able to effect the release of their personnel by decoupling the hostage situation from broader political and economic issues through protracted negotiation.[6]
It is widely believed that China detained two Canadians,Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, in response to the arrest ofMeng Wanzhou.[11][12][13] In 2019, AustralianYang Hengjun's detention was also linked to a renewed effort at hostage diplomacy in response to the arrest of Meng Wanzhou. Prior to Hengjun's detention, the Australian government had sharply criticized the Chinese government for detaining the two Canadians.[14][15][16] The 2020 arrest of the Australian news anchorCheng Lei has been viewed as a possible incidence of hostage diplomacy.[17] The February 2019 exit ban placed on Irish citizen Richard O'Halloran has also been considered a case of hostage diplomacy.[18]
TheLowy Institute has concluded that China's use of hostage diplomacy, among other things, undermines their "peaceful rise" narrative.[19] The Taiwanese government has expressed concerns that theHong Kong national security law will be used to facilitate further Chinese hostage diplomacy.[20] According toTaiwan News in 2020 China began practicing hostage diplomacy towards Taiwan, a target against which it hadn't been used for some time.[21]
On 15 February 2021, 58 countries including Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States formed a coalition led by Canada, signed a non-binding declaration, and condemned the arbitrary detention of foreign nationals for diplomatic leverage. While China was not officially called out, Canadian and American officials said that China had been the subject of the statement. TheCanadian foreign ministry said it was not targeting a single nation but was bringing diplomatic pressure on the issue. Shortly after, China's embassy in Canada released an article published by theChinese Communist Party-owned tabloidGlobal Times, which dismissed the coalition's efforts as an "aggressive and ill-considered attack designed to provoke China".[22][23][24]
In September 2021, following the release of Meng Wanzhou, the two Canadians held in China as well as two Americans held in China whose detentions were suspected of being linked to hostage diplomacy over Meng Wanzhou's court case were freed.[25]
China is also known to have detained American citizens includingMark Swidan, Alice Lin, andKai Li.[26] The detentions of Swidan and Li have been ruled arbitrary by an independent group of human rights experts at the United NationsWorking Group on Arbitrary Detention.[27][28]
Hamas uses hostage diplomacy as a means of political leverage. This is particularly evident in the waythe organization takes hostages to exert pressure onIsrael.[29]
Modern Iranian hostage diplomacy began soon after theIranian revolution with theIran hostage crisis.[30]
Iran's government has used hostage diplomacy as a key diplomatic tool. Hostages have included,Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Jolie King,Kylie Moore-Gilbert,Morad Tahbaz,Kamal Foroughi,Aras Amiri,Kameel Ahmady, Farid Safarli and Anousheh Ashouri.[31][32]
According to diplomat Hans-Jakob Schindler, the case of businessman Helmut Hofer marked the first known instance of "hostage diplomacy" involving Germany. Hofer was arrested in Tehran in 1997, accused of having sex with an unmarried Muslim woman — an offense punishable by death under Sharia law. It is believed that the woman may have acted on behalf of the Iranian government, as such an accusation could have risked her own life. Schindler, now head of the "Counter Extremism Project", has noted that the Islamic Republic of Iran used Hofer and other detainees as political hostages. Five years later, German angler Donald Klein was also detained on allegations of illegal border crossing and sentenced to 18 months in prison. In the background was Iran's pressure on Germany to releaseKazem Darabi, a terrorist convicted for theMykonos assassinations. Despite this, Germany resisted Iran's demands, with Hofer released in 2000 and Klein in 2007; Darabi was deported to Iran shortly afterward. At the time, the German government denied speculation of a deal with the Islamic Republic.[33]
In late-September 2019, when questioned about the Zaghari-Ratcliffe case, Iranian PresidentHassan Rouhani compared the imprisonment of foreigners in Iran to the imprisonment of Iranians in Western countries—saying that leaders on both sides were denying power over the decisions of their own judiciary, and that "we must all" exert "a constant, concerted effort... so... all prisoners must be free... but it must be a path that travels both ways."[34]
The 2020 detention ofJamshid Sharmahd, a German-Iranian Citizen who lived in the United-States, who was captured by Iranian authorities in Dubai in a covert operation, has added to criticisms of German diplomacy. Sharmahd, accused of involvement in terrorist activities by the Islamic Republic, was executed in 2024. His case drew significant international condemnation, especially concerning Germany's response. Journalist Gilda Sahebi criticized the German government for not publicly designating Sharmahd as a political hostage, unlike the Austrian and French governments in similar cases.[35]
Farid Safarli was a student at a German university at the time of arrest. He travelled to Iran to meet his Iranian girlfriend, later arrested by IRGC and held for 2 months in solitary confinement at the notorious Evin Prison. Farid Safarli’s case has characteristics of a hostage situation, though Iran officially charged him with intention to espionage. His detention came amid strained Azerbaijan-Iran relations, and his eventual release was part of a prisoner exchange involving an Iranian spy held in Azerbaijan. His family and Azerbaijani officials have consistently denied the espionage allegations, suggesting he was unfairly detained as a political bargaining chip. This aligns with patterns seen in other cases where foreign nationals are detained in Iran under disputed charges.[36][37]
As of 2022 Iran held 20 to 40 foreigners.[38]
Some people considers the case ofCarlos Ghosn imprisonment as a sort ofeconomic-war hostage-diplomacy case regarding theFrenchRenault group andNissanJapanese one.
North Korea has made wide use of hostage diplomacy as a tool against the US, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia and various European nations.[39][40][41] Those held hostage are often tourists or exchange students who are either charged with minor offenses or espionage.[42] In recent years it has been speculated that the regime ofKim Jong-un had evolved from using hostages to gain leverage to using hostages ashuman shields to protect against a feared American intervention.[43] The case ofOtto Warmbier, which ended in Warmbier's death soon after his release, is a particularly well known example of North Korean hostage diplomacy.[39][40]
Russia has been accused of hostage diplomacy in the cases ofPaul Whelan andBrittney Griner, and has exchanged prisoners with the United States in the past.[44][45]
According to Eric Edelman and Aykan Erdemir of theFoundation for Defense of Democracies, hostage diplomacy has been widely used by Turkish PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdoğan.[46] The case ofAndrew Brunson, an American pastor working in Turkey who was imprisoned in 2016, has been widely referred to as a case of diplomatic hostage taking.[47]
Lot ofpress and newspapers medias considers the case ofFrederic Pierucci, in theFrench companyAlstomacquisition, byGeneral ElectricAmerican group, as a study-case of hostage-diplomacy.[48] The Frenchexecutive has beenimprisoned several month in high security prison without any contact with his family nor employers for weeks.[49] In 2013, this case is seriously taken in France, as he has been released just a week after acquisition agreement was signed,[50] and is considered as a symbol ofeconomic warfare betweenFrance andUSA.[51]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hostage".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 801–802.| Roles |
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