SISTER OF IMPRISONED HIKER SHANE BAUER HOLDS VIGIL IN BOULDER, CO

REPUBLISHED FROM COLORADO DAILY:

Hikers have been detained in Iran for one year
By Joe Rubino, Camera Staff Writer

At 1:33 p.m. Saturday, 24-year-old Boulder resident Shannon Bauer stood in front of the Boulder County Courthouse, amid Pearl Street Mall shoppers and tourists on a hot summer day.

At that very minute, exactly one year ago, Bauer and her family first received word that her older brother, Shane Bauer, his girlfriend, Sarah Shourd, and their friend, Josh Fattal, had been captured by the Iranian government while hiking along an unmarked stretch of the Iraq-Iran border. The three remain captives in Iran to this day.

The Boulder “Free the Hikers” vigil, held Saturday afternoon on the Pearl Street Mall, was one of more than 15 events worldwide—some as far away as New Delhi, India—commemorating what organizers call one year of unjust detention for the three American citizens.

Bauer, who was helped by a rotating group of 10 to 15 friends and volunteers Saturday, held the vigil to continue spreading awareness of her brother’s plight and to apply pressure to both the Iranian and United States governments to release her brother, Stroud and Fattal.

“I have a goal of at least one person finding out about it and going on the Web site and showing how much they care,” Bauer said of Saturday’s vigil. “The ultimate goal every day is that they come home.”

A table set up for the vigil featured photos of the three captives. Volunteers sold T-shirts and buttons and accepted donations to support the “Free the Hikers” cause. The main goal, however, was to gather signatures on a petition asking the Iranian government to release the hikers. More than 60 signatures had been collected by 2 p.m. Saturday

“I had a couple of people telling me signing something wasn’t going to do anything,” said Sarah Kubley, a neighbor and friend of Bauer’s who helped out Saturday. “That’s just a good excuse to do nothing.”

Bauer and several others read prepared speeches at the vigil. Barbara Petersen, of Littleton, studied abroad with Fattal in South Africa in 2009. She was too emotional to finish her speech, so her father, Craig, read most of it.

Bauer hasn’t spoken to her brother since his arrest. She found out about his engagement to Shourd after their mother briefly visited him in his Tehran prison cell in March.

“Everything kind of changed,” said Bauer’s partner, Natalie Seuske. “We can’t leave cell phone reception because we’re always waiting for that call. Shannon has had health issues related to the stress.”

Despite the emotional distress it has caused her, Bauer takes solace in the community response.

“This situation generally is not something many people go through,” she said. “So to have this type of support is one of the main things getting us through this. People who don’t even know them want to see them come home.”

Melissa Parker, a resident of Union, Ky., signed the “Free the Hikers” petition. She was vacationing in Boulder with her family.

“It’s just really sad to think there are people over there that our government can’t help release,” she said. “We just keep them in our prayers.”

CHECKOUT MORE PHOTOS FROM THE BOULDER EVENT: