2009–2011 detention of American hikers by Iran

Joshua "Josh" Fattal, who grew up in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, is a freelance photojournalist and journalist who has reported for Democracy Now!, Mother Jones, The Nation, The Christian Science Monitor, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Los Angeles Times and other media outlets, using his fluency in Arabic. Sarah Emily Shourd, who grew up in Los Angeles, ==Arrest==

On July 31, 2009, Fattal, Shourd, and Bauer were detained by Iranian border guards while hiking in Iraqi Kurdistan. Iran claims the three crossed into its territory. 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. 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. 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. Their companion, Shon Meckfessel, was not detained, as he stayed behind at the Hotel Miwan in Sulaymaniyah because of a cold. He had intended to join them the following day. ==Detention==

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. 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. 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. ==Release of Sarah Shourd==

On September 14, 2010, after more than a year in prison, Sarah Shourd was released on 5 billion rial 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. Shourd remained a defendant but was not required by Iran to return for trial along with Fattal and Bauer in 2011. 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. ==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. 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. 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. On November 9, 2009, it was announced they would be charged for espionage by Iranian authorities. 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. 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. 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. ==Calls for release==

Kenan Thompson, Desmond Tutu, Muhammad Ali, Noam Chomsky, Tom Morello, Alyssa Milano, Ashton Kutcher, Barack Obama, Big Sean, Yusuf Islam, Sean Penn, along with many other celebrities and governments, called for the release of the detainees on grounds of inhumane treatment and lack of evidence. ==Release of Fattal and Bauer==

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. 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". 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. 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 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. ==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. The memoir A Sliver of Light is about the event. ==See also==