By Polly Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
U.S. hikers held in Tehran visiting with their mothers for the first time in ten months. [Source: Al Jazeera]
TEHRAN, Iran — Following an emotional reunion in Tehran last week, the mothers of three hikers captured last July while hiking in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region have returned home, after failing to win the hikers’ release.
The American trio, Shane Bauer, twenty seven, Sarah Shourd, thirty one, and Joshua Fattal, twenty seven, have been held at Tehran’s Evin prison for the past ten months after they unintentionally crossed over the Iran border during a hiking trip. They have not yet been publicly charged, but Iran has accused them of espionage.
The reunion was a carefully orchestrated event that took place at the Esteghlal Hotel in Tehran. Reporters at the news conference were instructed not to ask any questions. The hikers told of their time in prison, noting that they were well fed and well taken care of. Ms. Shourd expressed her loneliness, as she spends twenty three hours per day alone, while the other two prisoners share a room.
The mothers called for their children’s release as a “humanitarian gesture.” Added Cindy Hickey, Mr. Bauer’s mother, “It would be a good gesture for the world to see Iran doing.”
The mothers were permitted to visit with their children for ten hours over two days before leaving on Friday. The visit came after months of pressing Iranian authorities for visas. They have unsuccessfully attempted to initiate talks with Iranian officials, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called on Tehran to free the hikers, but Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said last December that the trio would stand trial.
The hikers’ imprisonment has exacerbated tensions between the United States and Iran. While Iran has hinted of releasing the prisoners in exchange for the release of Iranian prisoners, the U.S. State Department has rejected any such notion of a prisoner exchange.
The fate of the hikers remains to be seen. “We don’t understand why we’ve been kept here,” Ms. Shourd said. “We thought we’d be kept here for a matter of days, and it’s been nine and a half months. In my wildest dreams I never thought I would still be in prison.”
For more information, please see:
Al Jazeera – US mothers fail to win Iran release – 22 May 2010
CNN – Hikers’ mothers return to U.S. without children – 22 May 2010
BBC – Mothers’ emotional reunion with US hikers in Iran – 20 May 2010
New York Times – U.S. Hikers Held in Iran Describe Captivity – 20 May 2010
