Iran Must Release or Try U.S. Hikers Held Without Charge for a Year, Says Amnesty International
July 30, 2010
Amnesty International has called on the Iranian authorities to release three U.S. nationals who have been detained without charge or trial for a year.
Shane Michael Bauer, Joshua Felix Fattal and Sarah Emily Shourd were arrested by Iranian forces while they were hiking in the Iraq-Iran border area on July 31, 2009.
"One year from their arrest it appears clear that the Iranian authorities do not have substantial grounds to prosecute these three individuals, and we fear that they may be held on account of their nationality," said Malcolm Smart, director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Program. "If so, they should be released immediately and allowed to leave Iran."
"If they are not to be freed, they must be charged with recognizably criminal offenses and tried according to international standards for a fair trial," said Smart. Statements by senior Iranian leaders — including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in February 2010 — have suggested that the three may be in detention in order to put pressure on the U.S. government and to extract diplomatic concessions.
"If this were the case, then the continuing detention of these three individuals would amount to hostage-taking and be a very serious abuse of human rights," said Smart.
The Iranian authorities’ failure to charge them with illegal entry into Iran or more serious charges, such as espionage, one year after their arrest, has fuelled speculation that the Iranian authorities are holding them as a bargaining chip.
Iranian officials have alleged that the three planned to carry out "acts of espionage" in Iran. Their families and the U.S. government deny this and the three have not been formally charged.
Iran claims that the three were arrested after straying into Iran, but that has been challenged by The Nation, an American weekly news publication, which said it has eyewitness testimony that the hikers were seized in Iraq by Iranian Revolutionary Guards and taken forcibly into Iran.
"We believe that their questioning ended several months ago, so if serious charges were being considered these should have been brought by now," said Smart.
The three are held at Tehran’s Evin Prison. They were allowed to call their families several months after their arrest, but in May 2010 they were taken to a Tehran hotel and allowed to meet their mothers who had travelled to Iran from the United States.
An Iranian lawyer appointed by their families to represent the three has not been given access to them and Swiss embassy officials, who represent U.S. consular interests in Iran, have not been allowed to visit them since last April.
The families of two of the detainees, Sarah Shourd and Shane Bauer, say they have health problems which require regular monitoring.
"The detainees must be given immediate access to their lawyer, to renewed consular access and contact with their families, and to any medical attention or treatment that they need," said Smart.
"The Iranian authorities must release these three U.S. nationals without delay and allow them to leave Iran unless they are to face recognizable criminal charges and be tried promptly according to recognized international standards for fair trial."
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 2.8 million supporters, activists and volunteers who campaign for universal human rights from more than 150 countries. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.