American journalist detained in Turkey, charged with violating a military zone

The U.S. State Department confirmed Wednesday that an American journalist has been detained by Turkish authorities.

Lindsey Snell, a freelance reporter covering the Middle East and North Africa whose work has appeared on ABC News, Yahoo News, and Vice, was detained on Aug. 7 after she crossed the border from Syria to Turkey, NBC News reports. She has been charged with violating a military zone. State Department spokesman John Kirby said consular officers last visited with her at a prison in Hatay province on Aug. 26, and an official told NBC News the government's goal is to get her to a safe location. The governor of Hatay, Ercan Topaca, told the state-run Anadolu Agency that a "U.S. journalist was captured while she was trying to cross the border illegally; she was taken to court and remanded. The trial phase is ongoing. For now, we do not know if she is a spy or not."

In early August, Snell wrote on her Facebook page that she had been kidnapped by members of Jabhat Fateh al Sham, the group that was once called Jabhat al Nusra and affiliated with al Qaeda. Snell, a Muslim, said she had permission to film in their area and was "staying with the family of one of their recent martyrs," but was still abducted. She was held in a "cave prison," she wrote, but because her captors let her use her phone, she was able to plan an escape.

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