- 9 November 2009
-
- 10 Comments
-
-
-
- Events in Iran
(Updated) Espionage Charges for American Hikers?
9 November 2009 Posted By Matt Sugrue
Reuters is reporting that the three Americans who crossed into Iran while hiking in Iraq are being charged with espionage.
“The three are charged with espionage. Investigations continue into the three detained Americans in Iran,” Tehran general prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said.
The three were held after they strayed into Iran from northern Iraq at the end of July.
The three, Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27, crossed into Iranian territory nearly two months ago. Their families say they strayed across the border accidentally.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suggested in an interview with the American television network NBC in September that the Americans’ release might be linked to the release of Iranian diplomats he said were being held by U.S. troops in Iraq.
Under Iran’s Islamic sharia law, espionage is punishable by death.”
Important update (h/t Sanaz): According to IRNA, the hikers are “accused” of espionage, not charged. Tehran’s prosecutor said “investigations about these three people continue and an opinion will be issued soon…”
10 Responses to “(Updated) Espionage Charges for American Hikers?”
Unfortunately, this is just another case in a long series of US-Iran detainees, such as the US military’s seizure of Iranian diplomats in Iraqi Kurdistan, and Roxanne Saberi being found in possession of a top secret Iranian defense document.
There are also the cases of investigation and detention of certain muslims in America found taking photos of various US landmarks, as well as the Iranian-American filmmaker who spent months in a US military prison in Iraq without charge (he was even a US military veteran!).
The list goes on…
Just more reason why improved US-Iran relations should be the priority, rather than tit-for-tat political condemnation and antagonisms.
@Pirouz:
Well, let’s be fair. The Iranian government is far worse than than American government in this respect. In America we debate whether water-boarding is torture. The problem in Iran is much worse. There political prisoners are being raped and killed, and then victims never see justice.
Furthermore, this is not about US-Iran relations. This is about how ruthless and backward the Iranian government is. I would ask you to remember Zahra Kazemi, who was not even an American citizen. She was Canadian. According to a former staff physician in Iran’s Defence Ministry (Shahram Azam) who examined her, Kazemi had been brutally raped, had her skull fractured, two broken fingers, a crushed big toe, a broken nose, severe abdominal bruising, swelling behind the head, etc.
Please don’t be so proud as to try to defend the indefensible.
The unfortunate truth is that much of the negative perception that the outside world has about Iran does not come from close-minded Muslim hating Christians; it comes from the actions of the Iranian government. Much of the positive perception that the outside world has about Iran comes from the Iranian peoples rejection of its government. This is especially true of Iranian who risk their lives to protest and make it known to the world that the Iranian government does not represent a large part of the Iranian people.
Can Pirouz please supply evidence that Saberi was “in possession of a top secret Iranian defense document”? I would be interested to see it.
P.S. The mere claims of Iranian officials or Iranian media outlets do not constitute “evidence”, just as the claims of U.S. officials or media outlets do not constitute “evidence” either.
It always gets me sick to hear how our government backs Israel over and over.Just because Iran has nukes but we all know that they really don’t.American media is doing the same thing it did with Iraq, making a war.I think the media should be held accountable for telling wrong stories that can lead to death or a war.So the big ?? is who is responsible the gov. or the media or both.I think its about time for our gov. to abandon Israel and stop them from attacking Iran
The hikers will be fine. They’re just being held so that Iran can get a better deal in its talks with the West. They will be released with no harm done. It’s not like in Thailand, where even Americans arrested for smuggling drugs end up spending their lives in prison without the US government being able to do anything. The hikers were dumb enough to hike on the border; they were detained just as they would be in any other country; and they are probably being treated to chello kabob as we speak. Unfortunately, we can’t say the same thing for the Iranian protesters who are being raped and tortured by the government.
… and I almost forgot to mention that the only Iranian security agent to be charged for the brutal murder of Kazemi was acquitted of the charge of “quasi-intentional murder”.
This is really very shameful. The entire world should pass resolutions condemning the Iranian government’s human-rights violations against Iranian citizens. And yes, they should also pass resolutions condemning Israel’s human-rights violations against Palestinians. I am an Iranian, so I hope you will excuse me for being more concerned with the suffering of my fellow Iranians.
According to IRNA, the hikers are “accused” of espionage, not charged. Tehran’s prosecutor said “investigations about these three people continues and an opinion will be issued soon…”
http://www.irna.ir/View/FullStory/?NewsId=780145
@Iranian-American
Swiss diplomats have visited the three American (accidental?) infiltrators. They reported they were fine. Was anyone permitted to visit the Iranian diplomats held by the US Military? Or the Iranian filmmaker held in Iraq? No. It’s not too hard to guess that their conditions of incarceration made up at least part of the reason.
You’re right. Let’s not try to defend the indefensible. Let’s not defend Guantanimo, Bagram, and Abu Ghraib. Let’s not defend the detention of muslims after 9/11 (some of whom were Iranian). Let’s not defend the illegal war of so-called choice in Iraq. Or the continued murder of Afghan civilians by drone attacks. We’re talking here about inflicted casualties well exceeding a hundred-thousand, with millions forced to leave their homes to become destitute refugees). All of this done on US taxpayer money, so indirectly we all share in the shame. I won’t even go into the shame that is Palestine. Or the massive flooding of cheap drugs into Iran; the result of an ineffectual US led military occupation of Afghanistan.
But we’re drifting off-topic here.
Kazemi is also off-topic, but I’ll address it. Do we here in America seek international condemnation for the imperfections of our own criminal justice system? Have we done so for Rodney King? The “Oakland Riders”? Oscar Grant? Phoung Ho? etc. etc.
@Alireza:
One of the journalist organizations that supported Saberi during her trial has recently come out and criticized her for illegally having that secret Iranian document in her possession. To date, Saberi has yet to deny she was in possession of such.
@Pirouz:
For the record, you definitely did not address Kazemi. When the topic is foreigners who are unfairly arrested in Iran, Kazemi is very much on-topic. Rodney King, Oscar Grant, Phoung Ho and drones in Afghanistan would more accurately be described as “off-topic”.
Pirouz:
On a number of occasions I’ve pointed out the fact that the IRI has executed well over 15,000 Iranians since its inception. I’ve never heard a response from you regarding this fact, but ratehr attempts to compare the repression of the IRI with the repression of antiwar and civil rights protestors in the U.S. When was the last time the U.S. government executed 15,000 Americans? (And FYI, I’ve opposed the Iraq and Afghanistan wars from the very beginning).
Also, you’re playing a little fast and loose with the facts re: Saberi. You state: “Saberi has yet to deny she was in possession of such”. Here’s an excerpt from a Wikipedia entry that shows that she has denied it and that there are, in fact, two sides to this story. We would do well to treat both sets of claims with scepticism, rather than simply repeating the IRI’s claims as undisputed fact, as you have done:
“An appeals court reduced the charge against her from espionage to possessing classified information,[33][34] a charge Saberi denied,[8] and reduced her eight-year prison term to a two-year suspended sentence.[9][10]
After Saberi was released from prison, one of her lawyers declared that she had obtained a classified document while working as a translator for a powerful clerical lobby. He claimed that this had been used as evidence to convict her on charges of espionage.[35] He said the document was a classified Iranian report on the U.S.-led war in Iraq.[36]
Saberi later said, “The Iranian government claimed that I had a classified document, but I don’t think it was classified.” She stated that the Iranian authorities were unaware that she had the document in question until, “they pressured me to confess that I had classified documents, and I didn’t have any, but I started describing the documents that I did have. And so, later, they brought me to my home and I gave them the ones that they didn’t already have. But when I gave them this one, I looked at it and I said, ‘See, there’s no classified stamp on it; it’s not classified.'”[8] Saberi has suggested that the lawyer may have been under pressure from the Iranian government to say after her release that the document was classified, even though in court he had argued that it was not.[8]”