• 3 February 2010
  • Posted By Nayda Lakelieh
  • 4 Comments
  • Diplomacy, Events in Iran, Human Rights in Iran

Bartering Prisoners? Ahmadinejad hints at detained hikers’ release.

3 February 2010 Posted By Nayda Lakelieh

The Associated Press reports (via Washingtonpost.com)  Ahmadinejad has hinted at the possible release of three jailed US hikers… in exchange for Iranians currently serving time in US prisons.

“There are some talks under way to have an exchange, if it is possible,” he said. “Recently they (the U.S.) have sent messages, we answered to bring them (the Iranians), to bring these people (the hikers). We are hopeful that all prisoners to be released.”

No specific Iranian prisoners were mentioned by Ahmadinejad, but he had previously released a list of 11 Iranians believed to be detained in the US.  The list, released in December, includes a nuclear scientist that had disappeared in Saudi Arabia, an Iranian arrested in Canada on charges of trying to obtain nuclear technology, and a former Defense Ministry official who vanished in Turkey.

“I had said I would help in releasing them, but the attitude of some of U.S. officials damages the job,” said Ahmadinejad. “There are a large number of Iranians in prison in the U.S. They have abducted some of our citizens in other countries.”

Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd, and Josh Fattal are all UC Berkeley graduates that were detained 6 months ago on accounts of “suspicious aims” while hiking in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region. Their families state that the three accidentally crossed the border into Iran, but Ahmadinejad disputes this, stating that there were “indications they knew they were crossing into Iran.”

In late December, Iran’s foreign minister said that the three US detainees would be tried in court, but failed to mention any specific charge or when the trial would actually begin.

Posted By Nayda Lakelieh

    4 Responses to “Bartering Prisoners? Ahmadinejad hints at detained hikers’ release.”

  1. Pirouz says:
    February 3, 2010 at 9:50 pm

    Nayda, it was interesting to note that in recently published photos covering today’s aerospace displays during the 10-Day Dawn ceremonies, certain Iranian scientists were seen taking the precaution of wearing respirator/surgical masks to protect their identities.

    The concern of foreign abduction or foreign assassination is very real today for Iran’s prominent scientists.

    Reply
  2. Saman says:
    February 4, 2010 at 2:53 am

    This is not the first time that Americans were captured and held in Iran. Not that long ago, Iranian American Journalist Roxana Saberi was caught and detained in Iran on charges of spying for the US. Secretary of State and the US Government appealed to the Iranian Government and her sentence was cut short. She was released on ‘good faith’ as the Iranians put it.

    This has always been a cat and mouse game with the Iranians, they capture or harass american or European citizens. Then they negotiate out of a position of strength in an attempt to get the Americans to concede a few things. This helps them in two ways: first they can claim power over the USA in terms of propaganda, second, they can claim that they negotiated with the US in ‘good faith’ and that they did us a ‘gracious favor’ etc etc. They have and will try to show that they are the ones being reasonable and the US is being a bully with them on the international stage.

    It has not worked before, it will not work this time. And if anything it will wedge a even greater distance between the two nations, and derail any if not all hopes of reconciliation between Iran and the USA.

    Reply
  3. Saman says:
    February 4, 2010 at 1:45 pm

    This is not the first time that Americans were captured and held in Iran. Not that long ago, Iranian American Journalist Roxana Saberi was caught and detained in Iran on charges of spying for the US. Secretary of State and the US Government appealed to the Iranian Government and her sentence was cut short. She was released on ‘good faith’ as the Iranians put it.

    This has always been a cat and mouse game with the Iranians, they capture or harass American or European citizens. Then they negotiate out of a position of strength in an attempt to get the Americans to concede a few things. This helps them in two ways: first they can claim power over the USA in terms of propaganda, second, they can claim that they negotiated with the US in ‘good faith’ and that they did us a ‘gracious favor’ etc etc. They have and will try to show that they are the ones being reasonable and the US is being a bully with them on the international stage.

    It has not worked before, it will not work this time. And if anything it will wedge a even greater distance between the two nations, and derail any if not all hopes of reconciliation, negotiation and mediation between Iran and the USA.

    Reply
  4. Survivor's Guilt says:
    February 16, 2010 at 1:39 pm

    This geriatric regime claims to be so pure and holy, yet they abuse human rights every single day. They detaine these individuals and claim they are making an example of them. The only example they are making is how inhumane the regime has become. They arwe a bunch of ‘geda goshne’ trying to grab at every last little piece of power at whatever cost. I hope the release of these individuals is soon. It is a shame that our beautiful country and culture is represented by a regime that continues to destroy it.

    Reply

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Dear Mr. Page:

It has come to our attention that Google has begun omitting the title of the Persian Gulf from its Google Maps application. This is a disconcerting development given the undisputed historic and geographic precedent of the name Persian Gulf, and the more recent history of opening up the name to political, ethnic, and territorial disputes. However unintentionally, in adopting this practice, Google is participating in a dangerous effort to foment tensions and ethnic divisions in the Middle East by politicizing the region’s geographic nomenclature. Members of the Iranian-American community are overwhelmingly opposed to such efforts, particularly at a time when regional tensions already have been pushed to the brink and threaten to spill over into conflict. As the largest grassroots organization in the Iranian-American community, the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) calls on Google to not allow its products to become propaganda tools and to immediately reinstate the historically accurate, apolitical title of “Persian Gulf” in all of its informational products, including Google Maps.

Historically, the name “Persian Gulf” is undisputed. The Greek geographer and astronomer Ptolemy referencing in his writings the “Aquarius Persico.” The Romans referred to the "Mare Persicum." The Arabs historically call the body of water, "Bahr al-Farsia." The legal precedent of this nomenclature is also indisputable, with both the United Nations and the United States Board of Geographic Names confirming the sole legitimacy of the term “Persian Gulf.” Agreement on this matter has also been codified by the signatures of all six bordering Arab countries on United Nations directives declaring this body of water to be the Persian Gulf.

But in the past century, and particularly at times of escalating tensions, there have been efforts to exploit the name of the Persian Gulf as a political tool to foment ethnic division. From colonial interests to Arab interests to Iranian interests, the opening of debate regarding the name of the Persian Gulf has been a recent phenomenon that has been exploited for political gain by all sides. Google should not enable these politicized efforts.

In the 1930s, British adviser to Bahrain Sir Charles Belgrave proposed to rename the Persian Gulf, “Arabian Gulf,” a proposal that was rejected by the British Colonial and Foreign offices. Two decades later, the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company resurrected the term during its dispute with Mohammad Mossadegh, the Iranian Prime Minister whose battle with British oil interests would end in a U.S.-sponsored coup d'état that continues to haunt U.S.-Iran relations. In the 1960s, the title “Arabian Gulf” became central to propaganda efforts during the Pan-Arabism era aimed at exploiting ethnic divisions in the region to unite Arabs against non-Arabs, namely Iranians and Israelis. The term was later employed by Saddam Hussein to justify his aims at territorial expansion. Osama Bin Laden even adopted the phrase in an attempt to rally Arab populations by emphasizing ethnic rivalries in the Middle East.

We have serious concerns that Google is now playing into these efforts of geographic politicization. Unfortunately, this is not the first time Google has stirred controversy on this topic. In 2008, Google Earth began including the term “Arabian Gulf” in addition to Persian Gulf as the name for the body of water. NIAC and others called on you then to stop using this ethnically divisive propaganda term, but to no avail. Instead of following the example of organizations like the National Geographic Society, which in 2004 used term “Arabian Gulf” in its maps but recognized the error and corrected it, Google has apparently decided to allow its informational products to become politicized.

Google should rectify this situation and immediately include the proper name for the Persian Gulf in Google Maps and all of its informational products. The exclusion of the title of the Persian Gulf diminishes your applications as informational tools, and raises questions about the integrity and accuracy of information provided by Google.

We strongly urge you to stay true to Google’s mission – “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” – without distorting or politicizing that information. We look forward to an explanation from you regarding the recent removal of the Persian Gulf name from Google Maps and call on you to immediately correct this mistake.

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