On Wednesday, a mural in Washington, DC honoring American detainees abroad featuring Phoenix Mercury player Brittney Griner was unveiled by The Bring Our Families Home Campaign.
Members of the New York Liberty, including head coach Sandy Brondello, Jocelyn Willougby, Rebecca Allen, Sami Whitcomb, Marine Johanne, and Stefanie Dolson, visited the mural to show their support for Griner ahead of their game against the Washington Mystics on Thursday in Washington, D.C.
The seven-time All-Star was taken into custody in February at a Moscow airport and has been held for 153 days. She admitted guilt to drug charges on July 7, but her trial is still pending. In May, the U.S. State Department classified Griner as having been “wrongfully detained.”
ESPN’s T.J. Quinn reported that Griner pleading guilty to drug possession and smuggling was “a strategy to help facilitate a prisoner swap that could bring Griner home, and it also was a recognition that there was no way she was going to be acquitted.”
President Joe Biden issued an executive order on Tuesday to expedite the return of Americans who have been unfairly detained or taken hostage abroad. The order also reinforces the penalties imposed on anyone that holds Americans as hostages or imprisons them unlawfully.
