Jailed U.S. hikers await Sunday court date in Iran
Pair have been held for almost two years
MINNEAPOLIS – The families of two Americans imprisoned in Iran for nearly two years say they’re counting on a court hearing Sunday to end their ordeal at last.
Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, both 29, are due for what Iranian authorities have said will be a final hearing in their protracted espionage case. It’s scheduled two years to the day after they were arrested along with another American, Sarah Shourd, during a hike on the Iraq-Iran border. Shourd was released last September.
Bauer’s mother, Cindy Hickey of Pine City, Minn., said she’ll be up all night praying.
“As a mother I’m always holding out hope, but it’s been two years. … It’s time for this to be heard in court and for a release to be made,” Hickey said, adding that she’s heard “some really positive comments coming out of Tehran” that give her hope.
Hickey was referring to remarks by Tehran’s chief prosecutor, Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi, who told Iran’s official news agency that officials “are hopeful that the final decision about the three Americans’ case will be taken” at Sunday’s hearing. He did not hint at what the decision might be. But the families, who have long maintained the hikers’ innocence, took his comments as a good sign that the ordeal will soon be over.
“They themselves said that it will be the final decision, at that point, and the final hearing. So I have every belief that they will live (up) to this, and I am more than eager to see Josh and Shane come home,” said Josh’s mother, Laura Fattal, of Elkins Park, Pa.
Shourd, now 32, and Bauer got engaged in prison before she was released on what Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said were humanitarian grounds following health issues. She said she’s also managing to be optimistic.
“Optimism is what gets me through every day and what gets Shane and Josh through every day in prison,” Shourd said. “We have been told that a final decision will be made. And our lawyer, Masoud Shaffii, is a brave, courageous man, and he’s read their file. He said there is absolutely no evidence against them and he’s feeling very upbeat and he’s very much looking forward to this final session. And we’re all very hopeful that this will be the end of our nightmare.”
But the families have been deeply disappointed before. The mothers both said one of their lowest points came May 11, when their sons’ espionage trial was scheduled to resume but was canceled at the last minute without explanation.
One of their highest points was Shourd’s release on $500,000 bail last September. She refused to return to Iran for trial when she was summoned in February.
The families have been working to make sure Iranian authorities know the rest of the world is watching.
Shourd, Laura Fattal and Josh’s brother, Alex Fattal, planned a rally today outside the Iranian mission to the United Nations.
Shourd, Bauer and Fattal – friends from their student days at the University of California-Berkeley – were vacationing in Iraqi Kurdistan when they went hiking near a scenic waterfall. Shourd told the New York Times last November that they stepped off an unmarked dirt road, inadvertently crossing from Iraq into Iran only because a border guard of unknown nationality gestured for them to approach. She said they had no idea they were so close to the border. They all deny any espionage.