Cuba:
Alan Gross
December 2009 - Alan Gross is jailed while working as a subcontractor on a U.S. Agency for International Development project aimed at spreading democracy. His actions are deemed illegal by Cuban authorities. He is accused of trying set up illegal Internet connections on the island. Gross says he was trying to help connect the Jewish community to the Internet and was not a threat to the government.
16 American NGO Employees
December 2011 - Egyptian authorities carry out 17 raids on the offices of 10 nongovernmental organizations. The Egyptian general prosecutor's office claims the raids were part of an investigation into allegations the groups had received illegal foreign financing and were operating without a proper license.
June 4, 2013 - An Egyptian court charges 43 NGO workers, including several Americans and other foreigners. The court sentences 27 NGO workers in absentia to five-year sentences; 11 defendants to one-year suspended jail sentences; and five others to two-year sentences that were not suspended, according to state-run newspaper Al Ahram.
UC-Berkeley Grads
July 31, 2009 - Three graduates from the University of California at Berkeley, Sarah Shourd of Oakland, California, Shane Bauer, of Emeryville, California, and Joshua Fattal, of Cottage Grove, Oregon, are detained in Iran after hiking along the unmarked Iran-Iraq border in northern Iraq's Kurdish region.
Saeed Abedini
September 26, 2012 - According to the American Center for Law and Justice, Saeed Abedini, an American Christian pastor who was born in Iran and lives in Idaho, is detained in Iran. The group says that Abedini's charges stem from his conversion to Christianity from Islam 13 years ago and his activities with home churches in Iran.
Amir Mirzaei Hekmati
December 17, 2011 - Iran's Intelligence Ministry claims to have arrested an Iranian-American working as a CIA agent, according to state-run Press TV.
Robert Levinson
March 8, 2007 - According to his family, retired FBI agent Robert Levinson is last seen on Iran's Kish Island during a business trip.
Kenneth Bae
December 11, 2012 - U.S. officials confirm that American citizen Kenneth Bae has been detained in North Korea for over a month.
Euna Lee and Laura Ling
Prior to this event, no Americans had ever been tried in North Korea's Supreme Court.
Merrill Newman
October 26, 2013 - Merrill Newman of Palo Alto, California, is detained in North Korea, according to his family. Just minutes before his plane is to depart, Newman is removed from the flight by North Korean authorities, his family says.
Eddie Yong Su Jun
April 12, 2011 - An American man has been detained by North Korean authorities, State Department officials tell CNN. A diplomatic source familiar with the case says the man entered North Korea in November.
Timothy Hallett Tracy
April 24, 2013 - Timothy Hallett Tracy, of Los Angeles, is arrested at the Caracas airport, according to Reporters Without Borders. Tracy traveled to Venezuela to make a documentary about the political division gripping the country.
