IMAGES OF JOSH
CALL TO ACTION BY SARAH SHOURD: INTERNATIONAL BANNER WEEK #IBW
Oct 27th
SARAH SHOURD, RECENTLY FREED FROM EVIN PRISON IN IRAN, CALLS FOR:
INTERNATIONAL BANNER DAY FOR SHANE & JOSH—STILL IMPRISONED
Dear Friends & Supporters:
As you all know, I was freed on Sept 14th. Sadly, my fiancé Shane Bauer and my good friend Josh Fattal are still in Evin Prison. They are going to trial on Nov 6th. These are two innocent and courageous young men, held in Evin since July 31st, 2009, who did nothing wrong but hike near a border.
In the week leading up to the trial, Nov 1st thru Nov 6th, we call on our supporters worldwide to design, create and proudly display banners to FREE ALL THREE NOW. These banners, both large and small, will voice the message that they are innocent of all charges and will call for their immediate release.
We will be gathering photos of each and every banner in order to display them on the FREE THE HIKERS website and on Facebook. In addition, we ask that people post their images to Twitpic, using the hashtag: #IBW, which will identify it as being part of INTERNATIONAL BANNER WEEK on twitter. The idea is to create a groundswell of support that is visible from every corner of the real and virtual worlds.
A banner can be a bridge that can reach across social, cultural and geographical barriers. Let your banner reach past the walls of Evin Prison to Shane and Josh to bring them a message of hope and freedom.
THE CALL: Join us for International Banner Week in our plea for Iran to “FREE ALL THREE NOW”
THE WHAT:
- Design, create a banner of any size, with messages of support for Shane & Josh.
- Display, hang and/or drop your banners in the most visible place possible.
- Take a picture and document it.
- Email your photos to IBW@freethehikers.org.
THE WHEN: The first week in November, the week leading up to Shane and Josh’s unjust trial.
THE WHY: To let your message of support for these innocent young men be loud and clear and seen by the world.
THE MESSAGE:
- Shane and Josh are innocent.
- Free all three Now.
- The charges against them are outrageous.
We will be posting updates and tips here as the week goes on. Thank you again for all your support. I look forward to seeing all the creative ways you express your support for Shane and Josh.
Sincerely,
Sarah Shourd.
Here are some of our submissions so far:
VIDEO: Interview with Alex Fattal, Brother of Josh Fattal | VOA Persian @VOAPNN
Oct 26th
VIDEO EXCERPT FROM VOA PERSIAN
Alex Fattal, cherished older brother of Josh Fattal, Is interviewed by the Persian program of the Voice of America. His interview is dubbed in Farsi and takes place against the backdrop of a film about his brother, ‘Josh Fattal: 444 Days in Iran…and counting.’
COLLECTION OF @FREETHEHIKERS AVATARS
Jul 14th
Collection of supporters’ avatars. Add your own, tag yourself or your friends…
FREE THE HIKERS AVATARS ALBUM ON FACEBOOK
IRANIAN SCIENTIST’S APPEARANCE SPARKS HOPES FOR #USHIKERS’ RELEASE
Jul 13th
The incredible story of a missing Iranian scientist dramatically showing up at the Pakistani embassy in Washington has sparked speculation over whether the scientist’s appearance could be linked to a possible swap deal for three US hikers detained in Iran in 2009.
On Tuesday, Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri surfaced at the Iranian interests section of the Pakistani embassy in Washington, apparently requesting to be returned home and claiming he was abducted by US agents.
Amiri disappeared while on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in June 2009. Iran has long maintained that he was abducted and flown to the US by CIA agents. The Iranian State TV Web site reported that Amiri, in a phone call from Washington, had claimed to have been under psychological pressure in recent months.
But in an interview with FRANCE 24, a US State Department official, who declined to be named, maintained that “Amiri has been in the US of his own free will and he is leaving of his own free will”. She declined to provide further details of his stay in the US or the manner in which he would leave.
The claims and counterclaims, along with three video clips of a man purporting to be Amiri but offering contradictory narratives, put many spy thrillers to shame. As analysts scramble to get to the truth of the murky story, a number of likely explanations have been circulating in international policy circles, including suggestions that Amiri – if indeed he was in US custody – might be swapped for three US hikers who have been held in Tehran since July 2009.
Recent Picture of Shane, Sarah & Josh
The three hikers – Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal – were detained on July 31, 2009 when they were hiking in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan, according to their families and friends. Initial reports said the three had accidentally wandered into Iranian territory in the mountainous area along the Iran-Iraq border.
But in a report in the US weekly The Nation, local villagers said the hikers were detained on the Iraqi side of the border.
While Iranian officials have made references to the possibility of trying them for espionage, no official charges have been announced.
‘We’re always hoping’
For Nora Shourd, mother of 31-year-old Sarah Shourd, one of the three captured hikers, the news of Amiri’s mysterious appearance in Washington has sparked hopes that her daughter and her two friends could be released.
Sarah with her mother, Nora during their recent visit
“We’re always hoping,” said Shourd in a phone interview with FRANCE 24 from London, where she is currently on a European tour to raise awareness of her daughter’s plight. “It’s difficult for the families [of the abducted hikers]. We always hope that some development will tip it over and our children will be released. So, I’m always hoping.”
But Shourd maintained that she was not aware of any deal, negotiations or links between the Amiri case and the three hikers.
“This story is so strange, there are so many versions of the story, you don’t know what to believe,” said Shourd. “But no, we haven’t heard anything from any US officials. So, we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Speaking to FRANCE 24 on Tuesday, a US State Department official said the US government has repeatedly called, and continues to call, for the hikers’ release. But she denied reports of any negotiations concerning their release. “Regarding any reports of their release, I would refer you to the Iranian authorities,” she said.
In brief remarks to reporters in Washington about the incident on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Amiri was free to leave the US and return home.
“These are decisions that are his alone to make,” Clinton said. “In contrast, Iran continues to hold three young Americans against their will, and we reiterate our request that they be released and allowed to return to their families on a humanitarian basis.”
Written By Leela JACINTO the 13/07/2010 – 19:45
Video by: Ed O’KEEFE
ORIGINAL FACEBOOK POST:
France24 International News: “Mother of Hiker Detained in Iran Hopes for Her Release” #SSJ #FREEtheHikers #SolitarySarah
Mother of hiker detained in Iran hopes for her release
www.france24.com
The incredible story of a missing Iranian scientist dramatically showing up at the Pakistani embassy in Washington has sparked speculation over whether the scientist’s appearance could be linked to a possible swap deal for three US hikers detained in Iran in 2009.
VIDEO—MOMS OF #USHIKERS URGE IRAN TO PROSECUTE OR FREE THEM
Jun 17th
The mothers of U.S. hikers urged the Iranian government to either prosecute or free the three held since last year after reportedly crossing the border into the country while hiking in Iraq.
In a statement, the mothers of Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal also called for more consular access for their children and for them to be able to call their families.
They also asked that Shourd be moved from solitary confinement.
“Shane, Sarah and Josh have been detained in Iran without due process for almost 11 months, in continued violation of Iranian and international law,” the mothers said.
“To continue to detain our children without regard for their legal and human rights reinforces suspicions that they are being held in a cynical attempt by Iran to exert leverage with the United States. Iran has no legitimate reason at this stage not to release them or move forward with a fair trial in which our children can openly answer any allegations against them.”
The three Americans have been held for nearly a year. Their mothers visited them in Iran in May.
Bauer and Shourd got engaged in prison and plan to get married after their release.
“Shane told me that he proposed to Sarah in the yard of Evin prison on January 6, the very same day that we applied for our visas to go visit them,” Bauer’s mother, Cindy Hickey, said at the time. “We’re all so overjoyed at the news, but it’s obviously impossible to know when the wedding will take place.”
BRING THEM HOME
May 31st
FREE JOSH FATTAL, FREE THEM ALL
By Tao Orion
REPUBLISHED FROM THE EUGENE WEEKLY, 27 MAY 2010:
Josh Fattal
Josh Fattal is an avid hiker. During the years that we lived together at Aprovecho, Josh thoroughly explored the rolling hills of clear-cuts and Douglas fir plantations that comprise our backyard. One day, I remember looking up from my work in the garden to see his smiling face and dancing eyes, relating a tale of walking all the way to Saginaw on forest roads. Another day, determined to find a path from Aprovecho to Cottage Grove that does not intercept the paved road, he walked into town and back on the dirt roads that crisscross the forest between our property and town. Josh also spent the last winter he lived at Aprovecho expanding and improving the trail network on our property, creating new paths to formerly under-appreciated areas. Every time I walk the trails, I think of Josh, his creativity and his love and wonder for the world.
Josh is an articulate and principled member of our community. Josh led numerous groups of interns through Aprovecho’s Sustainable Living Skills Internship Program during the three years that he lived and worked at Aprovecho. He planned hiking and biking trips for the interns and encouraged them to engage in our local area by helping on farms and participating in community events. In Aprovecho’s business and organizational structure, Josh was a strong voice for staying true to our consensus process, working hard to find ways that everyone’s voice could be heard while still making progress and not spending all of our time in meetings.
Josh is a thoughtful and passionate citizen. Just before Josh left for his work as a teaching assistant with the International Honors Program, he helped create Aprovecho’s 100 Mile Diet Internship. Josh felt strongly that as a sustainable living education center, Aprovecho should endeavor to source its food needs locally and demonstrate our region’s potential for locally based economics. He believed that by focusing our organizational purchasing power into our local community, we could contribute to the creation of a more just, equitable and sustainable world.
Josh is in prison in Iran. I try to imagine what life is like for Josh at this moment, where he sits in Evin Prison in Tehran, with his friends Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd. I imagine him practicing tai chi, doing the poses that he practiced every Tuesday and Thursday morning in Coiner Park in Cottage Grove. I imagine that he is trying his best to keep centered, to keep healthy, as the days of his imprisonment continue to add up.
Josh, Shane and Sarah were taken into Iranian custody on July 31, 2009, during a hiking trip to Kurdistan, an autonomous and peaceful region of Iraq. As of the date I write this article, the hikers have been held without charge, without access to a lawyer and with extremely limited contact with the outside world. The Swiss diplomats who represent America’s diplomatic interests in Iran have visited with the hikers three times. Their most recent visit brought news of poor physical and deteriorating mental health.
Josh is a friend of many in the Cottage Grove community, and he is known and loved by people all over the world. We hope every day for the safe and speedy return of Josh, Shane and Sarah. They have been held for far too long, and we long to see their smiling faces again, to be inspired by them again, and to welcome them back to where they make their homes so they may continue to be appreciated as the kind, intelligent and passionate people they are. Please visit www.freethehikers.org to learn how you can help bring them home as soon as possible.
FREEDOM DAY by Alex Fattal
May 28th
May 27, 2010
Dear Josh,
I love you and I miss you! As you know, today is day 300 of your detention and we have designated it Freedom Day. People from all over the world are sending in their reflections and appreciations about their own freedom so that you can feel those freedoms vicariously.
Here’s mine, a reflection from yesterday:
It’s 92 degrees in Philadelphia and it’s my good fortune to find myself by the Schuykill River. Placing non-essential clothes on a plank at the water’s edge I dip my first foot, recently relieved by the bounds of laces too tightly tied, into the river. The hairs atop my foot float up, the gravelly sand compresses below my foot and tadpoles wiggle away. It feels good and I cautiously place my next foot in and gradually wade to the middle of the river.
I look downstream and a white bicycle helmet zips across the small stone bridge that has been connecting the two sides of the river for eighty-six years. I look upstream in disbelief that I am in the heart of Philadelphia. My heart beats with brotherly love imagining that you have already run into the river and are swimming upstream taking in the pleasure of being fully submerged in the cool water, not worrying about what chemicals the foam circles floating along the surface might carry or the discomfort of drying.
Swimming in the Schuykill River
I stand with the image of you swimming upstream in my mind as the water passes through my legs. After five minutes of basking in the daydream I dive in and chase you upstream. But the moment I am submerged you are gone. I am alone in the water feeling a freedom you can only feel when in another medium entirely. It’s a dreamy freedom. I slow from a frantic crawl-stroke to the breast-stroke, the gradual stroke that grandpa has perfected. My eyes are just above the water’s surface and the leafy riverbanks’ reflections ripple away from me, blurry images of trees elongating, slinking and snapping into other shapes. Without opening my mouth I ask myself, “Do you see that Josh?”
My thoughts flit to Brazil, to Dico’s house. I flip onto my back and take on a leisurely back-stroke as I think ‘this is not Brazil.’ The trees are temperate, it’s Philly, which continues to strike me as the most unbelievable part of the moment: I am in Philadelphia, it’s beautiful and I feel free; three thoughts I have never so closely connected before. But the freedom is only partial since I know you are somewhere up river. You are here and not here. I know I am swimming for you, exploring for you, feeling the gentle massage of the current for you. In the meantime you are left to look forward to limited allotments of time in the ceilingless room in Evin Prison and are praying for a storm so you can feel connected to the outside world through the weather and try to catch raindrops in your mouth.
My computer is in the car but my iphone is on the bank, the campaign awaits. I should get going. I stop my swim to put my feet down, turn and face the bridge. An eddy is pushing water against my back and I think of Dad saying, “a million dollars,” us looking at each other and cracking up. A smile comes across my face. You are here and not here, but most importantly you will be here. I swim back letting the river carry me.
Hang in there!
Love, Alex
VIDEO: THE REAL #USHIKERS—WHO ARE #SSJ? BY @SAFEWORLD4WOMEN
May 16th
“THE REAL HIKERS—WHO ARE SARAH, SHANE & JOSH?”
A film by SAFE WORLD MEDIA, part of A SAFE WORLD FOR WOMEN.
As the release of the three US hikers grows more likely, this film shows the real faces of Sarah, Shane and Josh at work in Darfur, Syria and the USA.
Little has been mentioned, by the international media, about the lives of the “three Hikers” before their incarceration in an Iranian prison, for allegedly crossing the border.
Iran’s early statements that Sarah, Shane and Josh were suspected of espionage, were widely reported. This film gives a glimpse into the real lives and work of these three social activists.
SHANE BAUER, a fluent Arabic-speaker, is a well-respected, published journalist who reported from Darfur, Yemen and Iraq. His insightful commentaries have covered issues not tackled by the mainstream media.
SARAH SHOURD is a women’s rights activist who, earlier in her career, was volunteers coordinator working to help stop the femicides in Mexico.
In the aftermath of the New Orleans Earthquake, Sarah was part of a team of volunteers helping survivors.
She later joined the Iraqi School Project in Syria, where she was teaching refugees.
JOSH FATTAL is a passionate environmentalist who worked at a sustainable living research & education centre in Oregon. He has a deep interest in food issues and had recently taught Global Health to 33 undergraduate university students while travelling with them in Switzerland, India, China and South Africa.
Activist musician, Jackson Browne, supports this film with his anti-war song Drums of War.
This film includes footage provided by APROVECHO—EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVING, as well as clips from the following films:
“STRANDED IN SYRIA” by Josh Vardey
“SONGS TO ENEMIES AND DESERTS: A FILM ABOUT REBELLION IN DARFUR” Co-directed by Shane Bauer & David Martinez
VIDEO: HIKER’S BROTHER, @ALEJOFLORES: MOMS ALLOWED TO VISIT #USHIKERS
May 13th
In this MSNBC interview, Alex Fattal, the brother of Josh, one of three Americans being held in Iran, talks about the possibility of family members being allowed to visit and whether any progress is being made to secure the release of his brother and his companions.
FILM BY @SAFEWORLD4WOMEN: “THE FORGOTTEN PRISONERS”
May 10th
This emotive film tells the story of the campaign to release Sarah Shourd and her friends, Shane and Josh, from an Iranian prison, where they have been detained for the last nine months.
In “THE FORGOTTEN PRISONERS,” made by A SAFE WORLD FOR WOMEN, Chris Crowstaff interviews Nora Shourd, mother of Sarah—one of the three US “hikers,” and Farah Mawani—a campaign co-ordinator working for their release.
For more information about the film, “THE FORGOTTEN PRISONERS,” please visit: A SAFE WORLD FOR WOMEN, where director, Chris Crowstaff, tells her story of making the film.
