Moms Of Jailed U.S. Hikers Appeal To Ayatollah

MINNEAPOLIS — The mothers of three Americans held in Iran marked 11 months of their captivity Wednesday with a letter to the country's supreme leader pleading for their release.

The letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was signed by the mothers of Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal. Iranian officials have accused the three of espionage after they were taken into captivity along the Iran-Iraq border last July during what their families say was a hiking trip.

Cindy Hickey, Nora Shourd and Laura Fattal appealed to Khamenei to "intervene immediately in their case and bring the cruel injustice of their continued detention to an end." The mothers said their children should either be tried immediately or released, and complained they have been deprived of access to their lawyer, diplomatic visits and other human rights.

The mothers had unsuccessfully sought a meeting with Khamenei when they traveled to Iran last month.

In Washington, the State Department repeated longstanding U.S. calls for the three hikers and other Americans detained in Iran to be released and renewed a plea for information about Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who went missing there in 2007.

Spokesman P.J. Crowley made the appeals as the Swiss ambassador to Iran, Livia Leu Agosti, whose country represents U.S. interests in Iran, was visiting Washington to mark the 30th anniversary of the agreement that established Switzerland as the "protecting power" for the United States in Iran.

Crowley said Agosti had "greatly assisted our government in our efforts to ensure fair and human treatment" for the hikers as well as for another American, Reza Taghavi, who has been detained without charge since May 2008.

Josh Fattal, 28, is from Pennsylvania. Sarah Shourd, 31, is from California and Bauer, 27, from Minnesota. All three are graduates of the University of California at Berkeley.

Comments

[riff4u]

07:52 AM on 07/30/2010

There is something fishy about this story. Who would go hiking on the border of Afghanistan and Iran. Perhaps Iran is right and they are spies.........then what? The US is holding men at Gitmo that were doing little more than standing around doing nothing. How about a swap?

[sheoples]

04:26 PM on 07/24/2010

ROFLMAO

HIKER = ANOTHER CASUALTY OF AMERICAN ARROGANCE.

LOL.

[KIVPossum]

02:49 AM on 07/01/2010

Reports indicate they took a hike to a mountain top and were warned in advance by locals that it was in Iran, and warned that Iran had a border post there. That alone is stupid. Yet, what could they find there as spies? Nothing. Also nothing indicates they were equipped to travel any distance within Iran.

So, a year in jail seems reasonable punishment for a border violation. Unless there is evidence to indicate they had intentions to remain in Iran and participte in any type of spy activity, kick them out. If there is evidence, give them a trial.

[TheRapture]

01:41 AM on 07/01/2010

I am going hiking next month on the north/south korea border...anyone game?

[dl63]

12:00 AM on 07/01/2010

It seems Americans like to hike in places they should not be. Makes me wonder what they were doing there.

[dwilson424]

09:21 PM on 06/30/2010

spies or stupid

Bob I will take stupid for $500

[VirginiaJeff]

09:33 PM on 06/30/2010

They did nothing stupid or wrong. They were in a Kurdish town in Iraq, when they were kidnapped by a member of the Republican Guard. That man has been sentenced to hang for kidnapping others -- including a cleric he murdered, who happened to have friends in the government. http://www.thenation.com/article/36562/us-hikers-were-seized-iraq

[Nobrun]

01:22 AM on 07/01/2010

I know. We are hikers, tourists, journalists, missionaries but never spies, right? How naive.

[MIKEinNYC]

08:42 PM on 06/30/2010

It's time that the world recognized that the unelected, thuggish, dictatorial ayatola along with his sycophantic moolas run the country. Ahmadinejad, that pipsqueak, loudmouth president, is just his mouthpiece.

[hodz]

01:32 AM on 07/01/2010

You are entitled to your opinion, but will your barrage of insults help?

By the way, we have kidnapped Iranians and kept them for years without charging them. Also, at present, we are holding kidnapped Iranians without charge.

[MIKEinNYC]

10:06 AM on 07/01/2010

Cite sources please.

[VirginiaJeff]

08:27 PM on 06/30/2010

A number of posters here are under the impression the students crossed into Iran. They did not.

Check out this story in The Nation. Its reporter found two Kurdish witnesses in a small Iraqi village who said they saw taken away by Iranian soldiers who pointed weapons at them, then crossed the border to arrest them. http://www.thenation.com/article/36562/us-hikers-were-seized-iraq

[hodz]

01:45 AM on 07/01/2010

The Nation reporter is not credible. He has his personal vendetta against the present Iranian government. Also, that part of Kurdistan is controlled by Kurdish terrorist groups PKK and PJK who constantly launch attacks against Iran from that area.

Therefore, they were ‘hiking’ in one of the most dangerous areas of Iraq. Also, from various reports, the Kurdish government officials had warned them about venturing in that area.

So, why did they go there despite the warnings?

[DofG]

06:36 AM on 07/01/2010

On some level (using common sense) I would have to agree with you. Why go to Iraq or Iran (merely for an adventure) doing a time of war? Or is it that there are those who think that under any circumstances, all the world is "their" oyster?

[Kevin Atlanta]

08:05 PM on 06/30/2010

There has been discussion, very suppressed here in the USA, that these College Students are actually CIA/NSA recruits as happens across US Campuses daily. I find it hard to believe that anyone, on a lark, would go Iranian border hiking regardless of how fluent in the language, familiar with the topography or just looking for the adventure that they obviously found. They should be grateful that they are still alive.
I wish the families well and pray for the release of their children.

[VirginiaJeff]

08:14 PM on 06/30/2010

"Very suppressed," eh? It's a miracle your post hasn't been scrubbed by the NSA then! What exactly were they seeing along those mountain ridges that was so dangerous? Please, share your intimate knowledge with us.

Then you can tell us what really brought the Twin Towers down.

[wereeverywhere]

08:36 PM on 06/30/2010

Sometimes sarcasm is the only way to combat lunacy. Thank you and faved.

[evagorman]

08:16 PM on 06/30/2010

These young Americans are almost going to wish they were back in Evin prison when they face the US media upon their release. And yes, they will be released, although I would never venture to say when.

I've shared so many links to try to shed some light on why people might hike in that area, but it's a losing battle. There are always dozens more commenters saying they are spies or just stupid so I can hardly be bothered at this point...

BUT, because I am a mother, here's one such article, and there are dozens more, from family, friends, co-workers, bosses, etc., that indicate these people loved travel and learning about the culture of other peoples, especially in the Middle East.

Not sure why that seems so strange to people. Oh well.

http://us.oneworld.net/article/365963-fourth-hiker-details-how-friends-ended-up-iran

[seehowtheyrun]

08:21 PM on 06/30/2010

In this day and age, I just can't imagine anyone with half a brain hiking around the Iranian border for fun and learning. From all I've read, these folks are intelligent.

[soodeeell]

06:50 PM on 07/01/2010

Thank you for posting that story. I suspected this is how it happened.

[Relic61]

07:31 PM on 06/30/2010

In summary; Please let our idiot children go.

[santiago sherwood]

07:21 PM on 06/30/2010

why would anyone go hiking in IRAQ. I still don't understand the real reason they were there

[sixyfivepercentwater]

07:20 PM on 06/30/2010

Oh my, what a photo. The one on the left is certainly not a woman, and the one on the right has a nipple showing. I don't hold out much hope for their appeal to the ayatollah, who is not known for his sense of humor and tolerance.

[spytheweb]

07:19 PM on 06/30/2010

Why not do what illegals do in America, demand your rights, demand you have a right to be in the country. Tell them you are hard working and are only looking for a better life. You were racial profiled. What they are doing to you is unconstitutional.

[Spokanada]

07:28 PM on 06/30/2010

and you are familiar with the Iranian Constitution??? Do you hold America in such low regard that you feel comfortable comparing it to Iran?

[MalloMel]

07:40 PM on 06/30/2010

It is only a matter of degree. With us losing our freedoms, and the Fundamentalist Nutbags fighting hard to take over our country, it does seem that we are moving in the direction of Iran.

[MalloMel]

07:35 PM on 06/30/2010

I know. It is ridiculous, isn't it?

I say, "just take down the border and rename the two countries the United States of Mexico, and be done with it.

[MalloMel]

07:41 PM on 06/30/2010

..."