Longest-held hostage

Ex-FBI investigator Robert Levinson (USA) was abducted on the Iranian island of Kish on 9 March 2007. As of 6 November 2016, he had been missing for 3,530 days (9 years 242 days). Levinson exceeded the previous record – of Associated Press Beirut bureau chief Terry Anderson, who was held by Hezbollah terrorists for 2,454 days – on 26 November 2013.

Although Levinson claimed to be working in Iran as a private investigator, tracking cigarette smugglers for the tobacco industry, evidence has since emerged that his employer was in fact the CIA, and that he had subsequently been captured by the Iranian intelligence service.

In late 2010, Levinson’s family received photographs showing him with long hair and a beard and wearing an orange boiler suit – proof that he had been held alive for some years after his disappearance.

In March 2015, the US Government offered a reward of US$5 m for information leading to his safe return. However, as of November 2016, his whereabouts remain unknown.