On July 31, 2009, three Americans, Joshua Fattal, Sarah Shourd and Shane Bauer were taken into custody by Iranianborder guards for crossing into Iran while hiking near the Iranian border in Iraqi Kurdistan.
At the time of their detention by Iranian troops, the three Americans were on vacation[citation needed] from their jobs in the region in a relatively stable, autonomous region of Iraq known as Iraqi Kurdistan. On the recommendations of locals, they hiked to see a popular local Iraqi tourist destination near the Iraq-Iran border, the Ahmed Awa waterfall.[citation needed]
Iran subsequently claimed the three were spies[2] but offered no evidence to support its contention.[1]
Sarah Shourd was released 14 months later on "humanitarian grounds".[3] Fattal and Bauer were convicted of "illegal entry" and "espionage" two years after their arrest and each sentenced to eight years in prison,[4] but were released on September 21, 2011. Each of the detainees was released after payment of 5 billion rial[5] (about US$465,000)[6] bail was arranged by the Sultan of Oman.
Background
Joshua "Josh" Fattal, who grew up in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania,[7] graduated from UC Berkeley, worked as co-director of an environmental education center at Aprovecho in Oregon and travelled to Switzerland, India, China, and South Africa from January to May 2009 on a fellowship with the International Honors Program (IHP)'s "Health and Community" study abroad program. Fattal and Bauer were friends from their days at the University of California at Berkeley. Shortly after the release of the hikers, it was revealed that Jacob Fattal, the father of Joshua Fattal, is an Israeli expatriate living in the United States. To avoid revealing the fact that Josh's father is an Israeli citizen, and that half his family are Israelis, Josh's mother and brother, Alex Fattal, spearheaded the campaign for his release and his father avoided the media. Fattal had been to Israel on a few family visits. The last time Fattal was in Israel was 2007 for two weeks for his cousin's wedding.[citation needed]
Sarah Emily Shourd, who grew up in Los Angeles,[7] worked in education and social justice in Damascus, Syria, where she provided educational opportunities to refugees from the war in Iraq and taught English. Shourd was Bauer's girlfriend at the time of the arrest, and the two became engaged to be married while imprisoned. They married on May 5, 2012, in Half Moon Bay, California, in a private ceremony with friends and family.[10]
Arrest
On July 31, 2009, Fattal, Shourd, and Bauer were detained by Iranianborder guards while hiking in Iraqi Kurdistan. Iran claims the three crossed into its territory.[2] The three sometimes dispute and sometimes accept this claim.
The three American detainees have claimed they were simply hikers who did not realize that they were in Iran and that they actually have lengthy backgrounds as social justice activists.[11][12][13][14][15] They had been living and active in the Middle East, and were on holiday in Iraqi Kurdistan, an autonomous region of Iraq free from the sectarian struggle that dominates much of Iraq.[16][17][18] They had been advised of the suitability of the region for a holiday by friends who had been there and through Internet research; and were recommended the Ahmed Awa waterfall, a popular Kurdish tourist destination, by a number of local people whilst they were in Sulaymaniyah.[18] After visiting the waterfall, they continued walking in Iraqi Kurdistan until they unknowingly walked along the unmarked Iraq-Iran borderline, at times stepping just feet into Iran.[19]
In June 2010, an article in The Nation indicated that two villagers said the hikers were accosted by Iranian authorities while they were on the Iraqi side of the border.[20]
Their companion, Shon Meckfessel, was not detained, as he stayed behind at the Hotel Miwan in Sulaymaniyah because of a cold.[21] He had intended to join them the following day.[21]
The exact circumstances of their detention are unknown, but is illustrated in the first person by each of the three in their book, A Sliver of Light, released March 18, 2014. They were held in Evin Prison, section 209. The three were in solitary confinement for the first four months. Bauer and Shourd could communicate during the first month, but Fattal was totally isolated. Shourd remained in solitary confinement after Fattal and Bauer were put in the same cell at which point the three spent time together each day for two 30-minute periods.[19]
Beside a five-minute phone call in March, 2010, the three detainees were not allowed to communicate with their families until May, 2010. Swiss consular officials were able to visit them on September 29 and October 29, 2009, and confirmed they did not appear to have been physically mistreated (Switzerland represents U.S. interests in Iran because the United States has no formal diplomatic relations with Iran). Upon the release of Fattal and Bauer on September 25, 2011, Shourd stated, "Bauer was beaten and Fattal forced down a flight of stairs."[22] In their memoir, Bauer states that he was not beaten but rather severely threatened.
The mothers of the three applied for visas in January 2010 to visit their sons and daughter. They went to Iran in May 2010, after the government granted the visas.[23][24] The three were united with their mothers for two days in May 2010 while remaining in detention.
Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd, who were already in a relationship when they were detained, became engaged while incarcerated and married after their release.[25]
Release of Sarah Shourd
On September 14, 2010, after more than a year in prison, Sarah Shourd was released on 5 billion rial[5] (about US$465,000)[6] bail, paid by the Sultan of Oman. Iran's judiciary also announced that the pre-trial detention of Fattal and Bauer would be extended for two more months, at that time.[26] Shourd remained a defendant but was not required by Iran to return for trial along with Fattal and Bauer in 2011.[27]
Iran officials stated she was released on humanitarian grounds due to her declining health. She suffered mental health deterioration due to her solitary confinement for such an extended period of time.[3] Shourd's bail did not require that she remain in Iran, but her case would still go to trial along with Fattal and Bauer. Shourd's mother has said she had been denied treatment for serious health problems, including a breast lump and precancerous cervical cells.[28] In May 2011, Shourd announced that she would not return to Iran for trial, citing acute ill-health. Her lump turned out to be non-cancerous, however it offered a way out of returning.[29]
Trial
On July 31, 2011, Fattal and Bauer were tried by the Revolutionary Court of the Islamic Republic of Iran. On August 20, 2011, they were convicted of "illegal entry" and "espionage" and sentenced to a total of eight years in prison, each.[4]
"According to an informed source with the judiciary, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, the two detained American citizens, have been each sentenced to three years in prison for illegal entry to the Islamic Republic of Iran," the Iran's state television website reported. It also stated that the two have separately been "sentenced to five years in prison on charges of espionage for the American intelligence agency".
Their Iranian attorney, Masoud Shafiee, thought "the sentence was not consistent with the charges." Illegal entry rarely has such a harsh punishment and spying can carry a death sentence in Iran.[30]
Iranian judicial process
President Ahmadinejad stated his hope that the three would be able to prove their innocence of espionage, but stated they deserve at least some punishment for illegal entry into Iran.[31][32][33]
In September 2009, Ahmadinejad promised that he would ask the judiciary to treat the case with maximum lenience and expeditiously, but despite many public statements that a judicial proceeding was imminent there was no hearing or movement on their case for nearly eight months.[34] On November 9, 2009, it was announced they would be charged for espionage by Iranian authorities.[35][36] The detainees were consistently denied access to their lawyer and Swiss officials were stonewalled. On February 15, 2009 [2010?] Mohammad Javad Larijani, the secretary general of Iran's High Council for Human Rights, said it was "quite possible" the Americans had strayed into Iran by mistake.[37]
At the beginning of August 2010, the Iranian government reiterated its belief that the trio should stand trial for illegal entry, and announced it was considering other charges such as "intentionally acting against Iranian security". On July 31, 2011, the two had their final hearing of the trial.[38] On August 20, 2011, the two hikers were sentenced to 3 years for illegal entry and 5 years for espionage, a total of 8 years.[27]
A team of United States Department of State officials, including diplomat Philo Dibble, coordinated with Omani and Swiss diplomats to secure the release of Fattal and Bauer.[42]
On September 13, 2011, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told NBC News that Fattal and Bauer would be released "in a couple of days" in a "humanitarian gesture".[43] Ahmadinejad was scheduled to speak at the United Nations General Assembly the next week. However the release was delayed as part of "what analysts called a power struggle between Ahmadinejad and the conservative establishment he has angered," and soon after the announcement, Iran's judiciary contradicted the president and stated it had exclusive authority to order their release.[1] (The judiciary answers to the country's supreme leader.) Fattal and Bauer were released on September 21 and taken by a diplomatic convoy to a plane that took them to Oman.[1]
Shafiei said the bail of 5 billion rial[5] (about US$465,000)[6] for each of the men was posted, and they would be released into the custody of either Swiss diplomats or an Omani delegation. Omani officials, who maintain good relations with both Iran and the U.S., reportedly played a key role in negotiations with Iran and may have paid the almost $1 million bail.[44]
The two men were released from prison and flown back to the United States via Oman on September 21, 2011, following a 10 billion rial[5] (about US$930,000)[6] bail-for-freedom deal posted by Oman.[45]
Once Fattal and Bauer were back on American soil, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Joshua Fattal's Iraqi-born Jewish father, Jacob, had emigrated to Israel as a child and later came to the United States, where he married Fattal's mother, Laura. In an effort not to draw attention to their ties with Israel after Josh's arrest, the family decided that rather than having his father involved in public efforts for Josh's release, the task would go to Josh's brother, Alex, a doctoral student at Harvard University, and to Josh's mother, Laura, who was born in the United States.[46]
Aftermath
As early as 2009, according to WikiLeaks, Oman offered to arrange secret talks between the US and Iran, which hadn't had diplomatic relations for 30 years. But it was the detention of the American hikers by Iran that brought Oman into a mediating role between the two sides and helped win the release of the detainees. Ironically, efforts to win the release of the hikers turned out to be instrumental in making the clandestine diplomacy to reach an agreement on the nuclear program of Iran possible: after this successful mediation, Sultan Qaboos offered to facilitate a US–Iran rapprochement. In March, US and Iranian officials met in Oman, Secretary of State John Kerry followed up in May, and the talks took on a momentum of their own after Hassan Rouhani replaced Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran's June elections.[47]
Evin Prison is a prison located in the Evin neighborhood of Tehran, Iran. The prison has been the primary site for the housing of Iran's political prisoners since 1972, before and after the Islamic Revolution, in a purpose-built wing nicknamed "Evin University" due to the number of students and intellectuals housed there. Evin Prison has been accused of committing "serious human rights abuses" against its political dissidents and critics of the government.
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The rial is the official currency of Iran. It is subdivided into 100 dinars, but due to the rial's low purchasing power the dinar is not practically used. While POS terminals are in use in Iran, the country does not participate in any of the major international card networks due to sanctions between it and the United States. Travelers are instead advised to load money onto a local prepaid card account.
Mohammad Reza Rahimi is an Iranian politician who served as the fifth first vice president from 13 September 2009 until 3 August 2013. His previous posts included governor of the Kurdistan province and vice president for parliamentary affairs.
The dynamic between the League of Arab States and the Islamic Republic of Iran has been ambivalent, owing to the latter's varying bilateral conduct with each country of the former. Iran is located on the easternmost frontier of the Arab League, which consists of 22 Arab countries and spans the bulk of the Middle East and North Africa, of which Iran is also a part. The Arab League's population is dominated by ethnic Arabs, whereas Iran's population is dominated by ethnic Persians; and while both sides have Islam as a common religion, their sects differ, with Sunnis constituting the majority in the Arab League and Shias constituting the majority in Iran. Since Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979, the country's Shia theocracy has attempted to assert itself as the legitimate religious and political leadership of all Muslims, contesting a status that has generally been understood as belonging to Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia, where the cities of Mecca and Medina are located. This animosity, manifested in the Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict, has greatly exacerbated the Shia–Sunni divide throughout the Muslim world.
On 23 March 2007, fifteen Royal Navy personnel from HMS Cornwall were searching a merchant vessel when they were surrounded by the Navy of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and detained off the Iran–Iraq coast. In the course of events, British forces claimed that the vessel was in Iraqi waters, but the Iranians insisted that they were in Iran's territorial waters. The fifteen personnel were released thirteen days later on 4 April 2007.
Ali Shakeri is an Iranian-American businessman and activist. He graduated from the University of Texas with a business administration degree. He serves on the Community Advisory Board of the Center for Citizen Peacebuilding at the University of California, Irvine. Shakeri was one of four dual-nationality Iranian-Americans detained by the Iranian government in May 2007.
Roxana Saberi is an American journalist who currently works for CBS News as a correspondent and former Miss North Dakota pageant winner. In 2009, she was held prisoner in Iran's Evin Prison for 101 days under accusations of espionage. She subsequently wrote a book about the experience.
2009 Iran poll protests trial refers to a series of trials conducted after 2009 Iranian presidential election. Over 140 defendants, including prominent politicians, academics and writers, were put on trial for participating in the 2009 Iranian election protests. The defendants were accused of orchestrating "colour revolution" in Iran, and "exposing cases of violations of human rights." The trials were widely condemned by world leaders both in Iran and worldwide as a "show trial" with coerced confessions.
Sarah Shourd is an American journalist, author and playwright. She is known for being an advocate against the overuse of solitary confinement in prisons. In 2009-10 she was held as a political hostage in Iran's Evin Prison for 410 days under accusations of espionage. She subsequently coauthored a book about the experience with her fellow hostages Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer. On Sept 14, 2010, the Iranian government released Shourd to the care of the Omani government. Shourd did her Bachelors of Arts in 2001 from University of Berkeley. She was also a UC Berkeley Visiting Scholar in 2014.
Shane Bauer is an American journalist, best known for his undercover reporting for Mother Jones magazine. He has won several awards including the Harvard's Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting and the National Magazine Award for Best Reporting.
Shahram Amiri was an Iranian nuclear scientist who disappeared from Iran during 2009–2010 under disputed circumstances, and was executed by the Iranian government in August 2016.
Events in the year 2010 in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Events in the year 2009 in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Events in the year 2011 in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Masoud Shafiee is an Iranian lawyer. He is best known for serving as the attorney for three American hikers that were detained in Iran from July 2009 to September 2011. His specialty is representing clients in Iran with American-linked legal problems. Since the release of the Americans, Shafiee has been briefly arrested, interrogated and had his passport confiscated by the Iranian authorities.
Philo Louis Dibble was an American diplomat.
Dr. Salem Ben Nasser Al-Ismaily is an Omani advisor at the Omani Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Al-Ismaily was previously the chairman and chief executive officer of the Sultanate of Oman Public Authority for Investment Promotion and Export Development, or Ithraa. Al Ismaily has been conferred by the Sultan of Oman, Haitham bin Tariq, the second class order of Oman and by Qaboos bin Said bin Taimur, the late Sultan of Oman, the third and the second class orders of Oman.
A Sliver of Light: Three Americans Imprisoned in Iran is a 2014 memoir by Shane Bauer, Joshua Fattal, and Sarah Shourd, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Eamon Dolan. It discusses the 2009–11 detention of American hikers by Iran.
↑ Fleishman, Jeffrey; Mosthagim, Ramin (September 21, 2011). "Iran frees American hikers". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
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