WASHINGTON — The release of 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 Paul Whelan’s detention unjust, and officials have called on 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 has also emboldened them: They hope to build off that rare burst of momentum and employ the same publicity tactics that worked for the Reeds.
“I do think that the fact that they couldn’t get them both out at the same time has reenergized that effort, and I hope it brings back the attention to all of these cases,” Whelan said.
On Wednesday, relatives of American captives in countries including Venezuela, Iran and Rwanda gathered outside the White House to plead for the Biden administration’s attention and to launch a new initiative to get their loved ones home. Several also urged the administration to consider additional prisoner swaps like the one that brought home Reed, who was exchanged for a convicted Russian drug trafficker.
Everett Rutherford, whose nephew Matthew Heath is jailed in Venezuela, said the Biden administration needs to display “courage” and “moral fiber.”
“And we need action from the man who occupies the house behind me,” Rutherford said, referring to President Joe Biden.
Heath, a former U.S. Marine corporal, was arrested in 2020 at a roadblock in Venezuela and accused by President Nicolás Maduro of being a terrorist and spying for Donald Trump. His family and supporters maintain that he is innocent.
Responding to the families’ concerns, State Department spokesman Ned Price said Wednesday that the administration is doing everything it can, “almost all of it unseen,” to bring home American hostages and detainees.
Reed’s release came one month after his parents traveled to Washington and stood outside the White House in hopes of getting a meeting with Biden, whose attention they had earlier tried to attract during a presidential visit to Texas. The Reeds got the meeting they sought, giving other families incentive to try to get in front of the administration too.
“You have to go to the president — the one who’s going to have to make the tough decisions to solve these particular cases,” Elizabeth Whelan said.
