Detainees’ families pressure government

WASHINGTON — The release of Texan Trevor Reed from a Russian prison last week was cause for unadulterated celebration for his family. For Elizabeth Whelan, the experience was far more bittersweet.

When Whelan learned in an early morning phone call from U.S. government officials that Reed was on his way home but that her brother Paul, also imprisoned in Russia, was not, she says she uttered words that “cannot be repeated,“threw her phone onto the sofa in exasperation, and knew she’d have to call her parents — in their 80s — to break the difficult news.

“This is not something a normal family, just an everyday family, has to ever deal with. It is horrific,” said Whelan, whose brother is serving a 16-year sentence on espionage-related charges that his family says are bogus. The U.S. government also considers Whelan’s detention unjust and officials have urged Russia to release him.

Once “we finally calmed down” later in the morning, Elizabeth Whelan said, the family recognized that “we need to get in touch with the (Reeds) and let them know we’re not upset about Trevor coming home. We’re upset about Paul not coming home.”

Reed’s release in a surprise prisoner swap triggered similar mixed emotions for the families of Americans wrongfully detained overseas. It also has emboldened them: They hope to build off that rare burst of momentum and employ the same publicity tactics that worked for the Reeds.

On Wednesday, relatives of American prisoners in countries including Venezuela, Iran and Rwanda gathered outside the White House on Wednesday to plead for the Biden administration’s attention and to launch a new initiative to get their loved ones home.

The past week already has yielded an unusual flurry of activity on that front.

On Tuesday, the State Department announced that it had reclassified Houston native Brittney Griner, a WNBA star imprisoned in Russia on a drug-related charge, as wrongfully detained.