Iran detained Joshua Fattal & Sara Shourd & Shane Bauer accused of Espionage
Shane Bauer and Sarah
Sarah (Sara) Shourd – 31
Sarah (Sara) Shourd – 31
Joshua (Josh) Fattal – 27
http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/news/local/75406787.html
FOR LATEST UPDATED INFO FOLLOW THIS LINK Shane Bauer – 27
Shane Bauer is said to be from “the Bay area.”
He is a writer and a contributor to New American Media (NAM).
Find a link to some of Mr. Bauer’s article at his website.
What appears to be Mr. Bauer’s website is ShaneBauer.net. Read articles written by Mr. Bauer here. Titles include Iraq’s New Death Squad, Muslims in Syria like Obama’s Tone but Want New Policy, Al-Qaeda Violence Rises as U.S. Strategy Unravels in Iraq, Blast in Iraq Not News Anymore, A Day in the Green Zone, among others.
Joshua Fattal is a resident of Eugene, Oregon.
Read more about Mr. Fattal here.
A Joshua Fattal was the internship coordinator at Aprovecho Research Center, a nonprofit research and education center near Cottage Grove.
Fattal posted an entry on his Facebook page on July 17, saying that he was in the Middle East. In response to a friend’s query, he wrote that he was on his way to Damascus and that he was planning to be in Kurdistan.
Ms. Shourd is a writer and a contributor to New America Media, and Matador Pulse. According to NWCN.com, is said to be from “the Bay area.” There is a Facebook profile for a Sarah Shroud from California who is
a “teacher/writer at Iraqi Students Project Connections.” The profile also says Ms. Shourd is “currently based in the Middle East.”
Kurdish officials from the self-ruled region in northern Iraq said the three people detained had mistakenly crossed into Iranian territory Friday while hiking in a mountainous area near the resort town of Ahmed Awaa. Iraq’s Kurdish region has been relatively free of the violence that plagues the rest of Iraq. Foreigners often feel freer to move around without security guards in the area, and it’s relatively easy to enter the region from Turkey, particularly by plane. The Kurdish government generally grants visitors visas valid for one week when they arrive at the airport.
Update 11-09-09:
Announced today that Shroud, Fattal and Bauer are accused of “espionage,” and they will be put on trial in Iran.
It is not clear from his comments whether formal charges have been filed. In Iran’s judicial system, the process of charging and trying suspects often takes place behind closed doors.
Reportedly, the three left the Nirwan Hotel in the city of Sulaimaniya, Iraq to hike in nearby mountains. One companion of the three, Shon Meckfessel, felt ill and stayed behind. According to a report out of Sulaimaniyah, Iraq published by TheRegister-Guard
http://maggiesnotebook.blogspot.com/2009/08/joshua-fattal-is-american-held-in-iran.html
http://maggiesnotebook.blogspot.com/2009/08/shane-bauer-is-american-held-in-iran.html
http://maggiesnotebook.blogspot.com/2009/08/sarah-shourd-is-american-held-in-iran.html
“Free American Hikers-Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd & Joshua Fattal From Iran”
“Free the Hikers: Josh Fattal, Shane Bauer, and Sarah Shourd in Solidarity”
“Send Bill Clinton to Iran to free the American hikers!”
http://freethehikers.org/?page_id=345
FREE THE US HIKERS SHANE BAUER, SARAH SHOURD, JOSH FATTAL, DETAINED IN IRAN
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran-hikers10-2009nov10,0,2443393.story
Iran charges three Americans-Jews with espionage
Three Americans arrested by Iranian authorities last summer during what their families describe as a hiking expedition along the Iran-Iraq border now face espionage charges, a leading Iranian judiciary official said today.
Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi, the powerful Tehran public prosecutor, told the country’s official Islamic Republic News Agency that the investigation of the three individuals is ongoing and that a judgment will be announced “in the not too distant future.”
Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Joshua Fattal, 27, were arrested by Iranian authorities July 31 during what their friends and families describe as a hiking trip in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan, which borders Iran. Tehran officials say the three crossed illegally into Iranian territory.
U.S. officials have urged Iran to dismiss the charges. “We believe strongly that there is no evidence to support any charge whatsoever,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told reporters in Berlin, according to news agencies.
“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, and we will continue to make that case,” she said.
Relations between Iran and the U.S., already strained over a long-standing dispute concerning the nature of Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, worsened after weeks of unrest sparked by the disputed June 12 reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Tehran accuses the U.S. and the West of inciting the protests.
Jafari-Dolatabadi also said that French researcher Clotilde Reiss would soon stand trial. Reiss, 24, was arrested July 1 as she tried to leave Tehran after spending several months as a French teacher in the central Iranian city of Isfahan. She appeared in one of the televised trials during Iran’s unrest, accused of espionage.
Joined the crusade demanding the release of three American-Jews hikers, who were arrested in Iran, on 31 July 2009, accused of espionage, who are recent UC Berkeley graduates.
Sarah Shourd, Joshua Fattal and Shane Bauer were detained July 31 when they crossed into Iran while on a hike in Iraq’s Kurdish region. Friends and family said the trio had become disoriented and accidentally crossed the border. Shourd, 31, and Bauer, 27, were visiting from Damascus, Syria, where Shourd teaches English and Bauer is a freelance journalist. Fattal, 27, who works for an environmental group in Oregon, was visiting Shourd and Bauer when the trio were arrested.
The Iranian government has confirmed the three are being held, but has not allowed authorities from the Swiss Consulate, who are acting on behalf of the U.S. government, to see them, said State Department spokesman Andy Laine. The United States does not have diplomatic relations with Iran.
Clinton has asked several times that the three be released, but the Iranian government has not responded, Laine said.
Friends and family of the three hikers gathered on the Berkeley campus Monday to bring attention to the plight of the detainees.
“It is heartbreaking for us to have no news about our children,” said Shourd’s mother, Nora Shourd. “We hope the Iranian authorities recognize this for what it was, a regrettable mistake, and let our children come home.”
E-mail Carolyn Jones at carolynjones@sfchronicle.com.
Iran charges 3 Americans with espionage
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/10/2737922.htm
Iran says it has charged three young Americans with espionage, three months after they were arrested for illegally entering the country.
The United States has vowed to fight for their release.
Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal and Sarah Shourd were arrested in late July after entering Iran from Iraq.
Their families say they were hiking and mistakenly strayed across the border.
Iranian authorities have now accused them of espionage.
The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has condemned the move.
“We believe strongly that there is no evidence to support any charge whatsoever,” she said.
“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, and we will continue to make that case.”
The timing of the announcement has raised questions on whether Iran is using the trio to bargain with the US over its nuclear program.
Iran has one other American in custody, an academic sentenced last month to 12 months’ jail for his alleged role in the recent political unrest.
Under Iran’s Islamic sharia law, espionage is punishable by death.
Joshua Fattal, Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd before their capture
Video of Josh raps on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibyiSIdm4O0&feature=player_embedded
Video of the 3 hikers dancing on YopuTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JgVKfiZnM0&feature=player_embedded
Sign the Petition
FREE THE US HIKERS SHANE BAUER, SARAH SHOURD, JOSH FATTAL, DETAINED IN IRAN
On July 31, 2009, Shane, Sarah and Josh were hiking near the Ahmed Awa waterfall in Iraqi Kurdistan when news reports say they mistakenly crossed the unmarked border into Iran. Since then, they have been detained in Iran and have had no contact with their families.
Shane, Sarah and Josh were in Iraqi Kurdistan on a hiking vacation and had no intention of entering Iran. They all have great respect for different cultures and societies and for the law. If they did enter Iran, it can only have been by accident.
FOR LATEST UPDATED INFO FOLLOW THIS LINK
Read about another local Iranian Jewish Teen
Yaghoghil Shaolian has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison, being accused of espionage
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lionpuppyheart
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lionpuppyheart
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I’m not too sure that they should have been hiking there in the first place. Isn’t there a reasonable threat of being detained while walking the border of IRAN AND IRAQ? If you ask me, they are three fucking assholes.
Hello Bartty13,
I don’t know where you are from, where you grew up, nor how you perceive the world, and whether you think that we, human, on this planet earth, are all equal – regardless of…
However, what seems clear to me, from your remark/comment to the ’3 American hikers’ story, is that since they had made an error in judgement, they are doomed to be classified as assholes, and further more, it comes out apparent from your choice of vocabulary of lexicon words, that being an asshole you deserve to die.
There is just no room for such people.
I suppose YOU live in a perfect world, and YOU had never made a wrong judgement call…
YOU must belong to the perfect race – not too many of those left… thank God – I bet you don’t believe in God neither…
Greetings,
Happy Holidays
P.S.
I could bet that your name and email are fake, that you are hiding behind fake identities – some hero you are…