Saturday, July 31, 2010
Why is Iran still holding US hikers?
Why is Iran still holding US hikers?
By Scott Peterson
Christian Science Monitor
July 31, 2010
A year ago, Iranian soldiers arrested three Americans along the border with Iraq.
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Related Stories
* In ironic twist, Iran detained US hikers critical of Israel and America
* US hikers' moms take more aggressive tack with Iran
Accused of espionage and of crossing illegally into Iran, which says it has "evidence" of contact with US intelligence agencies, they have been in prison ever since.
But the three friends say they were innocent hikers, inadvertently caught up in a regional tug of war between archenemies Iran and America.
The US news magazine The Nation in June cited Iraqi eyewitness accounts stating that Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer, and Josh Fattal were arrested on the Iraqi side of the poorly marked border by Iranian guards who briefly crossed a few yards into Iraq to pick them up. It reported that the man likely responsible for their arrest – the head of the Revolutionary Guard intelligence for the region – has since been imprisoned for a string of kidnappings and murders...
By Scott Peterson
Christian Science Monitor
July 31, 2010
A year ago, Iranian soldiers arrested three Americans along the border with Iraq.
Skip to next paragraph
Related Stories
* In ironic twist, Iran detained US hikers critical of Israel and America
* US hikers' moms take more aggressive tack with Iran
Accused of espionage and of crossing illegally into Iran, which says it has "evidence" of contact with US intelligence agencies, they have been in prison ever since.
But the three friends say they were innocent hikers, inadvertently caught up in a regional tug of war between archenemies Iran and America.
The US news magazine The Nation in June cited Iraqi eyewitness accounts stating that Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer, and Josh Fattal were arrested on the Iraqi side of the poorly marked border by Iranian guards who briefly crossed a few yards into Iraq to pick them up. It reported that the man likely responsible for their arrest – the head of the Revolutionary Guard intelligence for the region – has since been imprisoned for a string of kidnappings and murders...
Labels: hikers arrested, Iran
# posted by Maura Larkins @ 10:36 AM 
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