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[nomad soul]

U.S. hikers in Iran get 8 years in prison, state media reports
By the CNN Wire Staff | August 20, 2011
(Source: http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/08/20/iran.us.hikers/index.html?hpt=hp_t1)

Tehran, Iran (CNN) -- The two U.S. hikers detained for two grueling years in Iran on spying charges have been sentenced to eight years in prison, Iran's state-run TV reported Saturday. Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer each received five years for espionage -- specifically "cooperating with the American intelligence service" -- and three years for illegal entry, IRINN reported, quoting an "informed" judiciary source. They have 20 days to appeal their sentence, which was handed down by the Revolutionary Court, IRINN reported. Their defense attorney, Masoud Shafiei, couldn't confirm news reports of the sentencing. Their families have made urgent appeals to free the men and created a website to muster support for their release. They could not be reached for comment on the reported sentences.

Fattal and Bauer and another person, Sarah Shourd, were seized on July 31, 2009 when they were hiking in the Iraqi Kurdish region and allegedly crossed into Iran illegally. Shourd, Bauer's fiancee, was released last year because of medical reasons, but the two men remained imprisoned in Iran. Shourd's case remains open, IRINN reported.

United States and Iran, which don't have diplomatic relations, have been at odds over the Islamic republic's nuclear aspirations and Iran's ties to anti-American militants in the Middle East and Afghanistan. The hikers' case could exacerbate the hostilities during next month's U.N. General Assembly meeting. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made fiery and controversial speeches at the annual event and is expected to be there again this year.

The United States has repeatedly called for Fattal and Bauer's release. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said U.S. officials were working to confirm media reports of the sentences and trying to get more information with Switzerland, which represents U.S. interests in Iran. Swiss Ambassador to Iran, Livia Leu Agosti, said the Iranian judiciary has not yet informed her of the prison sentences. "We have repeatedly called for the release of Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal, who have now been held in Iran's Evin prison for two years," Nuland said. "Shane and Josh have been imprisoned too long, and it is time to reunite them with their families. As Secretary (Hillary) Clinton has said, 'We continue to express our hope that the Iranian authorities will exercise the humanitarian option of releasing these two young men.' "

World leaders, such as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, have urged Iran to release the men. Amnesty International noted that Bauer and Fattal have been granted one brief family visit when their mothers met with them in May 2010. "They have been denied adequate access to their lawyer and have had very limited access to consular assistance," the human rights watchdog said last month. "Iranian authorities have ignored repeated appeals from the international community and the men's families to release them and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has hinted that the hikers were being held as a bargaining chip to be used in Iran's dealings with the United States."

Iranian police said the Americans illegally entered Iran. The Tehran Prosecutor's office has "compelling evidence" that the three were cooperating with U.S. intelligence agencies, Press TV has reported. Shourd has said the hikers did not know they had crossed the border while hiking. Fattal and Bauer pleaded not guilty to the charges. The three are graduates of the University of California at Berkeley.

Shafiei argued that his clients shouldn't be regarded as spies because they don't have the "characteristics and background of spies." Shafiei had said the time the two have spent in Iranian custody is enough, even if the court reached a guilty verdict in a recent hearing. Shourd was released in September and returned to the United States after 410 days of solitary confinement. She remained a defendant in the case, but was not required to appear in court for a July 31 hearing.

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American hikers sentenced in Iran share love of travel
By the CNN Wire Staff | August 20, 2011
(Source: http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/08/20/iran.hikers.bio/index.html?iref=NS1)

The two American hikers, who according to a state TV report Saturday were sentenced to eight years in prison in Iran, are a pair of friends who love to travel and be immersed in other cultures, according to friends and associates.

Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer have been in Iranian custody for two years since they and a third hiker, Sarah Shourd, were detained on spying charges. They had been hiking in the Iraqi Kurdish region and allegedly crossed into Iran illegally. Shourd, Bauer's fiancee, was released last year because of medical reasons, but Fattal and Bauer face an extended prison sentence.

Bauer was working as a freelance journalist and had been undertaking a yearlong visit to the Middle East at the time of their arrest. In the Middle East, Bauer planned to spend time "absorbing on the ground whatever he could in the Arab world and offered to contribute stories to us," Sandy Close, executive director of California-based New America Media, told CNN in 2009. "I think this is a very experienced traveler, a backpack kind of traveler, not somebody who would go to the Ritz Carlton," Close said of Bauer. "[He's] somebody who would go to the hostel, who would operate on a shoestring, as many freelancers do." Bauer was planning to write a story about elections in Iraqi Kurdistan at the time the trio went hiking near the Iranian border. "I think he went to [Iraqi] Kurdistan to cover the elections ... and [during a hike] unfortunately didn't know the ground he was walking on well enough to avoid crossing over whatever boundary was there," Close said. A 2007 honors graduate in peace and conflict studies at Berkeley, Bauer is fluent in Arabic, Close said. Though he knows Arabic and is comfortable with Arab culture, he doesn't understand Farsi and therefore "would not have been able or, I think, interested in going [into Iran]," Close said.

Fattal graduated from Berkeley in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in environmental economics and policy, the university said. He shares his friends' love of travel and learning, and was described as "fiercely intellectual" by his friend, Chris Foraker, who spoke to CNN affiliate KVAL in Eugene, Oregon, in 2009. Foraker said he met Fattal during a study abroad program in 2003, and the two worked together at the nonprofit Aprovecho sustainable living research center in Cottage Grove, Oregon. "[Fattal] is a really great guy. We had a really good working relationship with him, and we love him a lot and hope to see him home safe soon," said Aprovecho's Jeremy Roth, who spoke to CNN affiliate KEZI in Eugene at the time of his arrest.

[johnslat]

"Shane Bauer" - Bauer, Bauer. Somehow that name has a familiar ring. Oh, my goodness, you don't suppose . . . .

[nomad soul]

Hmm... I think you're on to something there, John.

Their situation seems to tie into the "Why more Americans don't travel abroad" article posted a week ago...

[eurobound]

Terrible situation. It's going to be a long eight years for them, barring a miracle change of heart from the Iranian Government.

[Captain_Fil]

It could have been worse.

They could have been executed.

[nomad soul]

The second article doesn't mention that Shourd had been teaching English in Syria. Additionally, there was a fourth friend, an American lingusitics student and English teacher, who was travelling and hiking with the group. However, he stayed behind on the day they were captured due to an illness.

[Guy Courchesne]

[Isla Guapa]

[dean_a_jones]

[Captain_Fil]

This going to kill the tourism industry in Iran.

Damn!

[ancient_dweller]

They were either spies or they were incredibly dumb. 8 years seems about right.

[steki47]

This is horrible and I doubt they were spies. Nevertheless, I feel they are guilty of criminal naivete. Hiking around the Iranian border? What they were thinking?

[Captain_Fil]

My advice to the two hikers/prisoners:

Don't drop the soap in the shower!

[wangdaning]

They weren't spies, but happened to be hiking in Iraq and accidentally entered Iran. Oops, I was walking in Tunisia and accidentally started a war in Libya. Oops, I meant for the drone to kill Afghan children not the Paki ones.

All the Iranian scientists who have died are also just a coincidence. The building up of Israeli military is also a coincidence.

These people are extremely lucky to ever get a chance to get out.

[johnslat]

Dear Captian_Fil,

Soap??? Shower??? Guess you haven't been in too many Iranian prisons.

Regards,
John