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CNN VIDEO: #USHIKERS GO ON TRIAL
Feb 7th
REPUBLISHED FROM CNN:
U.S. hikers held in Iran go on trial
Tehran, Iran (CNN) — The trial of three U.S. hikers started Sunday in Iran, according to the office of the lawyer representing them.
Iran accuses Americans Shane Bauer, 28, Josh Fattal, 28, and Sarah Shourd, 32, of spying and trespassing.
They were detained July 31, 2009, after they allegedly strayed across an unmarked border into Iran while hiking in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
Shourd was released on bail in September 2010 because of a medical condition and immediately left the country. She has not responded to a court summons to return to stand trial, lawyer Masoud Shafii said Saturday.
Iranian authorities said she will be tried in absentia if she doesn’t appear in court.
The trial is closed to the press and the public, as is normally the case with revolutionary court proceedings. Iranian state media reported Sunday that not-guilty pleas had been entered for the three hikers.
Livia Lea Agosti, Swiss Ambassador to Iran
The Swiss ambassador to Iran, who represents American interests in the country, told CNN that Sunday’s trial will likely not continue the next day, but at a later date.
“It’s going to be soon,” Ambassador Livia Lea Agosti said, though she declined to divulge her source. “It’s not going to be another three-month wait.”
Agosti was not invited to attend the hikers’ trial but showed up anyway, she said. She was not able to enter the courtroom but she put in a request to see Bauer and Fattal, according to official IRNA news agency. The pair were present in the courtroom for the proceedings, she told CNN.
Agosti also said that Shourd’s decision not to return to Iran to stand trial was her own.
“This was Shourd’s personal decision and I don’t have any information as to why she didn’t appear for the trial,” the ambassador said, according to IRNA.
Shafii, the attorney, said he had been denied permission to see Bauer and Fattal the day before the trial began. He told CNN he has reviewed his clients’ case file and doesn’t see any evidence of a crime.
“In my opinion, they haven’t done anything wrong,” Shafii said. “The accusation of spying is baseless, and if they trespassed into Iran, it wasn’t their fault.”
Shafii said the border area where the hikers are accused of trespassing is unmarked and anyone could unwittingly cross over into Iran.
Human rights groups have condemned their arrests and their lengthy wait for a trial in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.
CNN’s Reza Sayah contributed to this report
INTERVIEW WITH #USHIKERS’ LAWYER ABOUT THEIR TRIAL
Feb 7th
REPUBLISHED FROM INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN IRAN:
American Hikers’ Laywer Unable to See Them Before Trial: I’m disappointed; The Case is Extremely Political!
Massoud Shafiee, lawyer representing the three American hikers talked to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran about today’s trial session. “The main problem with the court was that the case review was not completed in this session. I had expected that this session would lead to a ruling, and that this would be the last trial session for the suspects; unfortunately, even though the session lasted 2-3 hours, the review was not completed. Anyhow, in answer to my objection, they promised that the next session would be in the near future,” he told the Campaign.
Asked whether he was able to see his clients and read their case files, Massoud Shafiee said: “I was able to review the case. But despite my repeated requests to see my clients, I was not allowed to do so. They were supposed to be available to me one-to-two hours before the session today, and I arrived the courts early, but they were brought to court from prison fifteen minutes after the scheduled court time, and we had to go directly into court.”
“Today I objected again to these circumstances, where I was not able to see my clients before court in order to talk to them. Judge Salavati promised to give me an extensive visit in prison. We will have to wait and see what happens,” said Massoud Shafiee.
“Fortunately, they were brought to court without handcuffs and prison uniforms. They were both wearing normal clothes. I sat next to them. They were well,” said Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer’s lawyer.
Regarding whether the two Americans were allowed to defend themselves in court, Massoud Shafiee said: “I am pleased with this. One of the reasons the court proceedings had to be extended into another session was this. All their statements were translated into Persian by a Persian translator, and then the judge’s words were translated for them into English. My clients were able to make their statements. The two of them and I did not accept the indictment and we refuted all the charges.”
Massoud Shafiee said that his request for releasing Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer on bail until court ruling was not accepted. “My whole request was that they be released on bail until the verdicts are issued, and that they stay at the Swiss Ambassador’s home at the Swiss Embassy during this time; [my request] was not accepted. Now we only want for the next session to be scheduled soon, and that I am allowed to see my clients in prison,” he said.
The lawyer told the Campaign that in today’s court session, Sarah Shourd, the other suspect in the case who was released on bail several months ago due to her illness and returned to US, was also tried. “I had asked Sarah to write her defense bill, which she dispatched to me through the Swiss Embassy, and I submitted it to the court today. And now my least request is that the other two be released as soon as possible, too,” Shafiee said.
Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer, and Josh Fattal, three American hikers were arrested on 30 January 2009 on the border of Iran and Kurdistan Iraq, and they were charged with espionage and illegal entry. On 14 September 2010, one of the three prisoners, Sarah Shourd, was released on bail of $500,000 after spending months in solitary confinement. The other two remain inside Tehran’s Evin Prison, and despite their lawyer’s efforts, they have not been granted bail orders for temporary release.
VIDEO: Noam Chomsky Testifies to Shane & Josh’s Good Character
Jan 19th
Noam Chomsky
World renown linguist and public intellectual Noam Chomsky calls for the immediate release of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, who Iranian border guards detained while on a recreational hiking trip in Iraqi Kurdistan. He offers to testify to their good character and record of advocating for social and environmental justice.
Shane and Josh have been unjustly detained since July 31, 2009. So far they have been treated as political collateral. They were told their case was political after just over one month. It is time they receive compassion and are allowed to return to their families.
For more information, see this article in the New York Times.
Noam Chomsky Calls for Immediate Release of Josh & Shane
OMAN: NO PLANS TO FREE 2 OTHER #USHIKERS IN IRAN
Sep 17th
By ADAM SCHRECK (AP)
MUSCAT, Oman — Oman’s foreign minister said Friday he’s not aware of any plans for Iran to release two other Americans still being held there, but that his country stands willing to act as an intermediary between Tehran and Washington.
The Gulf sultanate played a key role in helping mediate the release of American Sarah Shourd from Iran on Tuesday. Two other Americans with whom she was arrested last year — Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal — are still being held in a Tehran prison on espionage charges.
Their families say Shourd’s departure from Iran gives them hope the two men might also be freed. The Americans’ mothers are calling on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to bring their sons with him when he comes to New York for the United Nations General Assembly next week.
But Oman’s foreign minister, Yusuf bin Alawai bin Abdullah, said there was no indication any deal is in the works.
“We would like to help and find ways and means to help,” he said by phone from the southern Omani city of Salalah. But he added, “at this moment there are no plans” for the other prisoners to be released.
To help secure Shourd’s release, Oman, which is considered an ally by both Washington and Tehran, played intermediary for a $500,000 bail that satisfied Iranian authorities and apparently did not violate U.S. economic sanctions on Iran.
Sarah arriving in Oman from Iran: 14 SEP 2010. (AP Photo/Sultan al-Hasani)
The 32-year-old Shourd left Tehran for Muscat aboard a royal Omani jet late Tuesday.
American and Omani officials say she has been in Oman since. She has not been seen publicly since the night of her arrival.
Bin Alawai declined to say who in Oman posted the bail payment, or even confirm whether any money changed hands.
“That was worked out,” he said, adding that “neither party wants to disclose” how the bail payment was handled.
The three Americans were detained along Iran’s border with Iraq in July 2009 and later accused of spying. Their families say the Americans were innocent hikers in the scenic mountains of Iraq’s Kurdish region and if they did stray across the border into Iran, they did so unwittingly.
Bauer and Fattal remain in Tehran’s Evin Prison and could soon face trial. Convictions on the spy charges they face could bring sentences of up to 10 years in prison.
Oman has acted as a behind-the-scenes mediator between Tehran and Washington for years, giving it a unique perspective on the two adversaries’ points of view.
The sultanate has in the past allowed the U.S. military access to air bases for refueling, logistics and storage. But it also is in close contact with nearby Iran, with which it shares control of the narrow Strait of Hormuz, through which 40 percent of the world’s oil tanker traffic passes.
Bin Alawai said he believed there are now “great possibilities” to repair relations between the United States and Iran.
To help restore ties, he urged American officials to tone down what is seen as harsh rhetoric directed at Iran.
“The rhetoric does not necessarily help. You see we have a different culture, but a common interest, in this region,” he said.
“Our policy,” he added, “is not to push our friends to confrontations.”
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
MOMS PLEAD FOR HIKER SONS’ RELEASE ON @CNN
Sep 15th
“We’re so happy Sarah’s home—but it’s our turn to have our kids back with us.”
~ Laura Fattal, Mother of Hiker Josh Fattal
REPUBLISHED FROM CNN AMERICAN MORNING—amFIX BLOG:
Posted: 09:00 AM ET Wednesday, September 15, 2010
(CNN) The mothers of two U.S. men still being held in Iran told CNN they are hopeful their sons will soon be able to join recently released detainee Sarah Shourd and enjoy their freedom too.
“What we really want of course is there release,” Laura Fattal said on CNN’s American Morning. “We’re so happy Sarah’s home – but it’s our turn to have our kids back with us.”
Laura Fattal appeared with Cindy Hicky on Wednesday’s American Morning to appeal to Iran to release their two sons who have been detained for more than a year. They spoke out a day after Sarah Shourd was released from Iran and reunited with her mother in Muscat, Oman after Iranian authorities released her from a Tehran prison where she had been held for 14 months.
The three Americans were detained after they allegedly strayed across an unmarked border into Iran while hiking in Iraq’s Kurdistan region. Iran accused the three of spying, a charge the United States and the hikers have denied.
Shourd, 32, left behind fellow Americans Shane Bauer, 28, who is her fiance, and their friend, Josh Fattal, 28.
Laura Fattal made a plea to Iran and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad toelease the two men to end a situation that she says should have been avoided from the beginning
“Iran knows they have three innocent hikers, one of which they released,” Fattal told CNN.
ABC VIDEO: MOMS PLEAD FOR SONS’ RELEASE FROM IRAN
Sep 15th
REPUBLISHED FROM ABC NEWS—GOOD MORNING AMERICA:
Posted: Wednesday, September 15, 2010
By JIM SCIUTTO, LEE FERRAN and DESIREE ADIB
American Hiker Sarah Shourd to Head Straight to Doctor’s Office
Shourd Was Expected to Get a Medical Exam Today After Being Freed From Iran Prison
American Sarah Shourd is feeling “strong and healthy,” according to a source close to the hiker’s family.
After almost 14 months of mostly solitary confinement in Iran on charges of espionage, Shourd was released Tuesday on $500,000 bail partially because of medical concerns, Iranian officials said. She reportedly is suffering from a serious gynecological condition and found a lump in her breast.
Shourd was scheduled to visit a doctor today for a medical examination on her first day of freedom from an Iranian prison, sources familiar with the situation told ABC News.
Swiss diplomats who represent U.S. interests in Iran warned Shourd’s family last May that the 32-year-old woman was suffering from depression.
Public discussion of her release began on Sept. 9 after a lawyer for Shourd claimed he “warned” Iranian officials that her health was deteriating.
“I gave a letter to Tehran investigators, and I warned [them] about Sarah’s situation, and that her health is very weak. They can hold them for up to a year for the investigation, but not more than a year if they haven’t been given a proper trial,” attorney Masoud Shafie told ABC News through a translator last week.
Earlier this month, Shourd’s mother, along with the mothers of two other American hikers still currently detained in Iran, pleaded Iranian officials to release the hikers, saying she were “gravely concerned” for Shourd’s health.
As Shourd receives medical attention today, the mothers of the other two captives made an impassioned plea directly to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to free their sons.
“Josh and Shane are still detained in Iran, as you well know,” Laura Fattal said on “Good Morning America” of her son Josh Fattal and his friend, Shane Bauer, directly addressing Ahmadinejad. “We thank you for bringing Sarah home, but now it is time [to] bring Josh and Shane home. We urge you … to show the same compassion you had for Sarah to bring Josh and Shane home.”
“I was very happy for Sarah and her mom,” Cindy Hicky, Bauer’s mother, said. “But very sad that Shane wouldn’t be coming with her. … How hard it must have been for them to separate.”
Sarah Shourd’s Fiance Remains in Iranian Prison
Bauer and Shourd became engaged while they were in captivity and broke the news to their parents in May during the only meeting the mothers and prisoners have had since their July 2009 arrests. They were captured while hiking near the relatively unmarked Iran-Iraq border after allegedly crossing into Iran. They have been accused of espionage.
Upon release, Shourd said she would do everything she could to secure her fiance’s and friend’s release.
“All of my efforts, starting today, are going to go into helping procure the same freedom for my fiance Shane Bauer and my friend Josh Fattal because I can’t enjoy my freedom without them,” she said Tuesday. “They should be standing here with me.”
When she was released, Shourd thanked officials in Iran and singled out Ahmadinejad for the “humanitarian gesture.” Fattal and Hicky also thanked Ahmadinejad for what they called his intervention in Shourd’s case, and agreed with a State Department challenge for him to bring the two captives with him when Ahmadinejad comes to the United States for an upcoming United Nations presentation.
“We’re always hopeful. … I hope he really takes that to heart,” Hicky said.
“It’s their turn now,” Fattal said.
The hikers’ mothers offered a similar challenge for Ahmadinejad to bring home all three hikers before his last appearance at the U.N. in May. Then, Ahmadinejad said he had “no influence” over the judicial process.
“We have laws. There’s a due process of law that is being observed,” Ahmadinejad told “GMA’s” George Stephanopoulos May 4. “The judicial system in Iran is independent of political influence. It’s under the influence of judicial laws.”
President Obama Asks Iran to Release Two More Hikers
President Obama said Tuesday he was “very pleased” by Shourd’s release and called for the release of the other two hikers in a statement, saying they “have committed no crime.”
“We remain hopeful that Iran will demonstrate renewed compassion by ensuring the return of Shane, Josh and all the other missing or detained Americans in Iran,” Obama said.
The State Department said that the willingness to release Shourd proved Iran’s ability to “resolve” all the hikers’ cases.
Iranian officials, including Ahmadinejad, had announced last week that Shourd would be released Sept. 11.
Officials in Iran’s judiciary canceled Shourd’s release Friday, but reversed the decision Sunday on the condition that her family post $500,000 bail, according to an Iranian prosecutor who spoke to Iran’s IRNA news agency.
A “bank guarantee” for the bail had been given, an attorney for the hikers, Masoud Shafie, told ABC News Tuesday.
“The case inspector informed the Tehran prosecutor of a bank guarantee concerning the posting of bail and after the prosecutor’s agreement, he issued the order for her freedom,” the prosecutor’s website said Tuesday, according to PressTV Iran.
The report did not say who was responsible for the guarantee, but two U.S. officials said Iran had received “assurances” from the country of Oman concerning the bail money.
A senior U.S. official familiar with the negotiations said Monday that the U.S. government would not be contributing any cash for Shourd’s release.
ABC News’ Jason Stine, Kirit Radia, Sabrina Parise, Thea Trachtenberg, Kevin Dolak, Jessica Hopper and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2010 ABC News Internet Ventures
SARAH, SHANE & JOSH: WHY WE ARE NO DIFFERENT BY @YUMIWILSON
Aug 2nd
REPUBLISHED FROM CITY BRIGHTS:
Posted By: Yumi Wilson | August 01 2010 at 07:00 AM
Ask anyone who knows me, and they’ll probably say I’m a bit too trusting. I tend to believe in the goodness of people, unless I see otherwise.
I thought about that a lot today, after losing my wallet and cell phone near the corner of 17th and Mission streets.
Granted, losing the phone is never a bad thing. We could all stand to spend more time connecting with people the old-fashioned way: By meeting them in person.
Still, there is something disturbing about losing your phone—and your wallet.
It all happened so fast. I had just finished interviewing some friends of three American hikers who are being held in Iran on suspicion of spying. I had planned to update my blog, telling readers that friends of Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal wanted everyone to know that the three young Americans are not spies, and that they had simply wanted to go on vacation to the mountains of Kurdistan for adventure and fun.
The friends and supporters, I had learned earlier, were going to march to Dolores Park from 16th and Mission streets.
Group demanding release of hikers in Iran marches to Dolores Park.
Hoping to catch them from the start, I had taken BART and gotten off at the 16th street station. I didn’t see them there, so I hurried toward Dolores Park, where they had said via Twitter they would end up.
At the park, my son seemed pleased that he had elected to come with me to the Mission, a place we haven’t frequented since he stopped going to Synergy in the first grade (he’ll be a freshman next month).
Together, we counted about 40 people, but I noticed that there were many more people at the park who didn’t seem to care about the marchers. In fact, I didn’t think the rally would last that long, and I envisioned getting back home quickly.
But with my son wanting to stay longer to enjoy an accordion player at the rally and then a trapeze artist in another area of the park, I took my time to meander, to observe and to listen without saying a word.
Rally in Dolores Park
Still, I had the same question that many people seem to have: What were Sarah, Shane and Josh doing so close to the border? Why didn’t they know better? Why did they go there in the first place?
And then, just like a bad Hollywood ending, the same thing happened to me. Only I wasn’t in Iran. I was in the Mission District.
“Where are we?” my son asked.
I had strayed a few blocks past my favorite restaurant on 16th Street. But even I knew enough to sense I had entered an “iffy” area. Within a minute or two of having my phone, someone had brushed past me and taken my wallet and phone. By the time I called to stop my credit cards and phone, someone had already made a purchase at a gas station in the Mission.
“We should have taken the car,” my son said.
Of course, I tried to assure my son that our choice of transit had nothing to do with my credit card being stolen. I also tried to shut out what a man had said about the Mission: Avoid it, unless you want to be messed with.
I had tried to ignore the advice, casting it off as an unfair stereotype of a neighborhood often misrepresented in the media. But now, huddled under a storefront in fear of every person who passed me, I wondered whether he was right.
I know it’s silly. The Mission is a wonderful place, filled with good people. I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, as some of people at the rally noted about the three hikers.
“They are innocent people,” said Meredith Walters, an English student at UC Berkeley. “They are good people who dedicated their lives to making the world a better place.”
Messages to the Hikers from Supporters
And that might be among the greatest lessons learned Saturday afternoon by attending the “Free the Hikers” rally in Dolores Park.
“They are extraordinary cultural diplomats,” said Margaret Roberts, who works as a Spanish interpreter in Oakland’s courts. “We are all safer and better informed and more connected to the larger world with people like Sarah, Shane and Josh out in the world.”
Jennifer Miller, another friend at the rally, added: “They were living and working to make a bridge between cultures.”
Sarah, Shane and Josh took a road less traveled for many of the same reasons we all do. We are curious about the world around us. We are adventurous and want to try new things. And we believe in the goodness of people, just as I am trying to do, even now.
See more photos of the event:
SISTER OF IMPRISONED HIKER SHANE BAUER HOLDS VIGIL IN BOULDER, CO
Aug 1st
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:
AN OUTRAGEOUS INJUSTICE & CALL TO ACTION
Jul 13th
REPUBLISHED FROM THE HUFFINGTON POST:
Posted: July 12, 2010 03:42 PM
By Alex Fattal
Today is day 346. Iran, enough is enough! Making my brother Josh and his two friends Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd suffer in Evin Prison for nearly a year is wrong and needs to end.
To underscore this point, we are calling on friends, supporters and everyone who is outraged that my brother and friends remain imprisoned for no legitimate reason to protest by organizing events throughout the US and the world for a weekend of action starting on July 30th.
Update on the Hikers’ Case
The last public comment from an Iranian official about the hikers case was on June 11 by Mohammad Javad Larijani, a senior member of the judiciary and head of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights. Below are a few quotes from that statement:
“The issue of detainees should be pursued on the humanitarian level and not be muddled with other issues.”
“I think [a trial] should not be very far from now.”
Javad Larijani made similar statements on February 15th, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mottaki made similar statements in early January and President Ahmadinejad made similar statements last September. We continue to wait for some sign that their case is indeed coming to a conclusion and that these promises are not totally empty.
Josh, Shane and Sarah have not been able to see their lawyer, Masoud Shafii, and have had no contact with the outside world since their mothers’ visit in late May, a visit that was inexplicably cut from seven days to two (and this one hour before they departed for Tehran and after waiting for over five months for one-week visas).
Clearly the excuse of an ongoing “investigation” and the repeated reassurance that their case is being treated within a legal framework is an excuse for the fact that Iran is treating my brother and his friends as bargaining chips. If Iran had the thinnest thread of evidence it surely would have publicized it extensively by now. When the mothers were in Iran, Josh, Shane and Sarah told them that they hadn’t been interrogated since early December, when Josh and Shane were finally placed in the same cell and the conditions of their detention eased a bit. However, Sarah still sits in solitary confinement and is only able to see Shane and Josh for brief periods. This extreme isolation risks inflicting lasting damage to her emotional and psychological well being. Her medical records have not been made available to her family, raising fears that the medical tests contain troubling information about her gynecological condition.
All of this for what? The Nation magazine recently reported that my brother and friends were not even on Iranian territory when they were detained. While this report is unsubstantiated, it highlights the fact that the charge of illegal entry still needs to be proven in a free and fair court of law.
From the hikers’ lawyer, Masoud Shafii, I understand that according to Iranian law the investigation period needs to end within four months; obviously, that has not happened. Mr. Shafii informed our families that another Iranian law stipulates that prisoners who have spent the minimum sentence in jail without seeing a judge must be freed immediately. The minimum jail sentence for illegal entry is one year, although the standard punishment is a $50-$300 fine. If Josh, Shane and Sarah are held beyond a year without any semblance of justice their detention will reach a new level of illegality, a new level of immorality, a new level of inhumanity.
A year ago, as I skipped stones into the Baltic Sea with my brother (he was visiting me in Sweden) he shared with me his plans for the future. He was leaning toward going on to graduate studies, not going on to languish in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison.
Josh, Shane and Sarah are talented and caring individuals who have worked to improve our world by advocating for social and environmental justice. They need to get back to their lives, get back to bringing joy to our families and their friends, get back to their noble pursuits.
So far Iranian authorities have been deaf to humanitarian appeals from the likes of Desmond Tutu, Ela Gandhi, Mairead Maguire, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Noam Chomsky and many others. They need to hear from all of us together. Join the mobilization to tell Iran that enough is enough on the one-year anniversary of the hikers’ detention. Flagrantly playing politics with the lives of innocents is unacceptable. Iran, let them go now!
How You Can Take Action:
- Join the hikers’ mothers, human rights activists, friends and supporters in a protest outside of the Iranian Mission to the United Nations (40th St. and Third Ave.) in New York on July 30 between 12:30 and 2pm
- Attend a protest event on July 31 that is already being planned in Philadelphia, PA; San Francisco, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Duluth, MN, Washington, DC; Boulder, CO; Lunenburg, MA; Birmingham, AL; Elk Grove, CA; Seattle, WA; Cottage Grove, OR; Frankfurt, Germany; Paris, France; Marbella, Spain; New Delhi, India; Vancouver Island, Canada; Vancouver, Canada; Toronto, Canada
- Organize a protest event wherever you are and contact Farah Mawani to let us know about it: farah@freethehikers.org
- Wear a white ribbon or other Free the Hikers gear to spread the word that their unjust and illegal detention needs to end
- Join our Facebook group and invite all of your friends to do the same
- Write to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other Iranian officials, calling for the hikers’ release
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.
