Shane Bauer Espionage: Iran Accuses Man With Boulder Ties Of Spying

Shane Bauer, a man with ties to Boulder, has been accused--along with two friends--of espionage by the government of Iran. Bauer, along with friends Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattel, was arrested on July 31 along the Iran-Iraq border.

From 9News:

The three Americans were arrested July 31 after straying over the Iranian border from northern Iraq. The U.S. government and their families say there were on a hiking vacation and crossed accidentally.

Bauer and Shourd had been living in Syria for the past year. Shourd was teaching English there and Shane Bauer was working as a freelance photographer and journalist.

Hillary Clinton, who met with families of the detained hikers on November 5th, has stated the U.S. position that the charges are baseless.

From the AP:

"We believe strongly that there is no evidence to support any charge whatsoever," Clinton told reporters in Berlin. "And we would renew our request on behalf of these three young people and their families that the Iranian government exercise compassion and release them, so they can return home."

Over the weekend, Bauer's sister, Shannon Bauer, a graduate student in Boulder, organized a candlelight vigil on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder to raise awareness of her brother's arrest.

Read The AP Coverage Of The Charges Below

* * * * * * * * * *

TEHRAN, Iran - A senior Iranian prosecutor accused three Americans detained on the border with Iraq of espionage on Monday, the first signal that Tehran intends to put them on trial.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called for the release of the three. The announcement came as Washington and Tehran are maneuvering over a deadlock in negotiations over Iran's nuclear program.

"We believe strongly that there is no evidence to support any charge whatsoever," Clinton told reporters in Berlin. "And we would renew our request on behalf of these three young people and their families that the Iranian government exercise compassion and release them, so they can return home."

Clinton said the U.S. would continue to make that case through the Swiss channels who represent U.S. interests in Tehran.

Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal, all graduates of the University of California, Berkeley, were arrested July 31 after straying over the Iranian border from northern Iraq. The U.S. government and their families say there were on a hiking vacation and crossed accidentally.

Tehran chief prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi says the three "have been accused of espionage" and that investigations were continuing, according to the state news agency IRNA. He said an "opinion (on their case) will be given in the not distant future."

It is not clear from his comments whether formal charges had been made, but such announcements are often a sign that charges are imminent if not already filed. In Iran's opaque judicial system, the process of indictment and trial often takes place behind closed doors.

The timing of the announcement raised the possibility that Iran was using the case to pressure the United States amid the negotiations over its nuclear program. Iran is also holding another American, academic Kian Tajbakhsh, who was arrested amid Iran's postelection turmoil and was sentenced last month to 12 years in prison for an alleged role in opposition protests.

In January, Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi was arrested in Tehran, was convicted of espionage, then released on appeal in May. Two months later, U.S. forces in Iraq freed five Iranians who they had been holding for months.

Comments

[simplypeyton]

01:14 PM on 11/09/2009

"We believe strongly that there is no evidence to support any charge whatsoever­,"

How can Clinton know what the evidence is against these "hikers" without actually going to Iran and examining it? She is simply speculatin­g. Travel to Iraq is highly restricted­, especially across the Syrian border. I find it highly unlikely that this was a mere sightseein­g excursion.
Also, agreeing with Hess, how would the US react to three Iranian "tourists" wandering over the Mexican border into the United States? Would we assume they were just on a "hike" and got lost? This strains the incredulit­y of most rational observers.

[Hass]

11:57 AM on 11/09/2009

Imagine if three Iranians had "accidenta­lly strayed" into US soil -- they would have been waterboard­ed several times by now, and our media would have been screaming about "terrorist­s"

[middleoftheroad]

12:22 PM on 11/11/2009

so you think Obama would have waterboard­ed them?

[Hass]

12:40 PM on 11/13/2009

You don't see him closing Gitmo, do you?

[kentah]

09:37 PM on 11/17/2009

The CIA, the FBI, the military in general (with it's foreign proxies) waterboard­. The government allows this, it's not an Obama or a Bush thing, it's a government thing.