US Hikers - Josh Fattal Released from Iran Prison - Safe In Families Arms

Josh Bauer and Shane Fattal Finally Free
September 21st, 2011
@10:44 AM ET @CNN

The government of Oman says American hikers Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer have been turned over to the custody of Omani officials and are on their way to the Arabian sultanate.

"You can state officially now that the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has handled Shane and Josh to the custody of Dr. Salem Al Ismaily, the envoy of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the Sultan of Oman, a country that enjoys excellent relationships with both the IRI and the USA. Dr. Al Ismaily with the hikers are now on their way to Muscat where they will spend a couple of days before heading home,” a statement from Oman's envoy in Iran said.

[Updated at 11:42 a.m. ET] An airplane carrying American hikers Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer has left Tehran, the country's state-run IRNA news agency reports. The plane's destination is Muscat, Oman.

[Updated at 12:17 p.m. ET] A convoy of cars carrying the released American hikers has just arrived at Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport, CNN's Shirzad Bozorgmehr reports. That contradicts an earlier report from Iran's state-run IRNA news agency that the hikers' plane had departed for Oman.

Reference - as reported by CNN

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a U.S. television interviewer last week that Shane Bauer, 28, and Josh Fattal, 29, would be freed in coming days in a humanitarian gesture ahead of his trip to the United Nations in New York.

The judge who needs to sign the papers in order to release the two remaining US hikers on bail is ON VACATION and has has not returned. The Lawyer for Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer explains:

"The judge was supposed to return today ... When I went to the court, I was told that the judge had not returned to the office yet," said Masoud Shafie.

"The judiciary officials told me to wait for their call ... but I do not think they will call any time soon."

it is one week today since #Ahmadinejad said Fattal and Bauer would be out 'in a couple of days'

When will this maddness end.

Official: Plane sent to Iran to release jailed American Hijackers -

Release American Inmates on Bail
September 13, 2011

Reported by Fars News Agency:

"Branch 36 of the revision court has consented to release these two American nationals on a bail of half a million dollar," said Massoud Shafi'ee, the Iranian lawyer of Bauer and Fattal who along with another American national - Sarah Shourd - were detained on spying charges after crossing Iran-Iraq borders illegally in 2009.

Shourd returned to the United States after she was freed on humanitarian and medical grounds in September 2010, paying bail of around 500,000 dollars, but she was tried in absentia.

"The families of these two Americans and the Swiss embassy which hosts the US interests section in Tehran have been informed of this issue and Bauer and Fattal can leave Iran similar to Sara Shourd," the lawyer added.

Also earlier today, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had told the NBC news network that the two American inmates would be freed within the next few days.

The Gulf state of Oman dispatched a private plane to Tehran Wednesday amid efforts for a bail-for-freedom deal for two Americans jailed for spying -- in a possible replay of the diplomatic exchange that brought a third member of the group from Iran last year.

August 20, 2011

Bauer and Fattal, who share a cell in Tehran's notorious Evin jail, pleaded not guilty at a closed-door court hearing on February 6 and had been awaiting a verdict following another trial hearing on July 31. Delays and more delays until today when Iranian state television reported that the US hikers have been sentenced to eight years in prison. The 8 years breaks down to five years for espionage and three years for illegally entering the country They can appeal the sentence within 20 days.

The U. S. State Department Speaks
The U.S. government has appealed for the two men to be released, insisting that they have done nothing wrong. The two countries have no direct diplomatic relations, so Washington has been relying on an interests section at the Swiss Embassy in Tehran to follow the case.

“We have seen reports that Iranian judicial authorities have sentenced Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal to 8 years in prison. We are working to confirm these reports and are in contact with the Swiss Protecting Power to obtain more information,” said Victoria Nuland, State Department spokeswoman. “We have repeatedly called for the release of Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal, who have now been held in Iran’s Evin prison for two years. Shane and Josh have been imprisoned too long, and it is time to reunite them with their families. As Secretary Clinton has said, ‘We continue to express our hope that the Iranian authorities will exercise the humanitarian option of releasing these two young men.’”

Earlier this month, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said he hoped "the trial of the two American defendants who were detained for the crime of illegally entering Iran will finally lead to their freedom." Their lawyer also had expressed hope they might receive a pardon for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, according to an Associated Press report.

Monday May 9, 2011

Sunday was Mother's Day, but for the mothers of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, hikers charged with spying by the Iranian government, it was another day spent without their sons.

Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal have endured more than 21 months of uncertainty and isolation for no just reason and Wednesday May 11 these 2 US hikersare due to go on trial in Tehran.

Free the Hikers

"In support of our friends being held in Tehran’s Evin Prison for almost 2 years we are fasting from May 9th-11th leading up to their second trial . Please join us to raise awareness of this injustice in any way you can. People will be fasting in many different ways-from juice fasts to simply giving up coffee for three days."

December 16, 2010

The families and friends of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, two young American hikers imprisoned by Iran since July 2009, are pleading for their release in time for the winter holidays. The boys have spent more than 470 days in a Tehran prison. In the weeks since her release, Sara Shourd, 32, has spent her days writing and speaking to keep attention focused on the plight of Bauer and Fattal, Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, both 28 years old, will face trial February 6th rather than later this month as Iran's judiciary has pushed back the trial date for the American hikers accused of spying. The U.S. has maintained the three are not spies and should be released.

September 14, 2010

One of the 3 Hikers, Sara Shourd was finally released by Iran on Tuesday after more than a year in prison. She was put on a flight to freedom to meet her mom, in the Gulf sultanate of Oman. When Sarah landed after a long embrace with her mother, she spoke to the media she said she was grateful to Iran's president for her freedom.

“They should be standing here with me”, was another one of Sarah Shourd’s statements to the reporters regarding Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, the 2 hikers that she had to leave behind in Evin Prison, Tehran, Iran.

Friday September 10, 2010

Sarah Shroud was scheduled to be released Saturday. The Iranian government has backed off on that.

The release of American hiker Sarah Shourd has been "canceled" because the judicial process has not been completed, a prosecutor said Friday, according to the semiofficial Iranian Labour News Agency.

According to the NY Times " Iran on Friday postponed the release of an American woman who has been detained along with two friends for more than a year, in an abrupt shift that suggested divisions within the Iranian government. late on Friday the Iranian state news agency, IRNA, quoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s deputy for communications, Mohammad Hassan Salehimaram, as saying that the release had been postponed, and promising more details later.

Hours earlier, a high-level prosecutor had announced that the release could not take place because it circumvented judicial rules."

"I would like to confirm that Iran will be releasing Sarah Shourd very soon," Bak Sahraei, the second counsellor to the Iranian mission, said in a statement sent to AFP on Thursday Sept 9, 2010.

Previously, Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance said "one of the Americans" would be freed at 9:00 am (0430 GMT) on Saturday at Hotel Esteghlal in Tehran, without identifying the detainee.

They are saying that Sara will be released this Saturday would coincide with the end of Ramadan and the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

It also comes with Tehran under mounting international pressure over the case of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two sentenced to death by stoning by an Iranian court for adultery.

On the eve of the one-year anniversary of their arrest, Obama had issued a plea for their immediate release, saying they had never worked for the US government and committed "absolutely no crime."

Nora Shourd said last month that she had received an unexpected call from her daughter complaining she had been denied medical care for five months.

She said Sarah's case amounted to psychological torture. Sarah has been held alone in a cell while she gets to see Josh and Shane for 10 minutes a day.

June 24, 2010

Finally the truth of how the three American Hikers, Sarah Shroud, Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer landed in their present predicament. The media has been focusing on the families and the efforts by the families to persuade the Iranian authorities to release them on compassionate and humanitarian grounds, yet little attention has been paid to how the 3 'Hikers' arrived in their present predicament predicament.

Lets go back to last August 16th August 2009, when it was a UK newspaper, the Daily Telegraph that wrote "The witnesses, who followed the Western-looking hikers out of curiosity, say that around 2 p.m. on July 31 2009, as the hikers descended the mountain, uniformed guards from NAJA, Iran's national police force, waved the hikers toward the Iranian side using 'threatening' and 'menacing' gestures,"

The Nation has conducted a 5 month investigation into the true circumstances of their abduction. There is so much now finally surfacing that contradicts the Iranians, who have claimed that they crossed the border before their arrests. It is "concerning" and raises many questions.

June 4, 2010 - 308 days have passed and still Sarah, Josh and Shane, the three American Hikers are locked up in Iran's notorious Evin prison. Today Josh Fattal turned 28 years old. His birthday comes just a few weeks after the mothers of the American hikers were allowed to visit them. It was the first time Sarah, Josh and Shane have seen their moms. Other than a brief phone call in March, it's the only contact the three Americans have had with their families. While the mothers were visiting with them, Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd told them that they were engaged. Josh will be the best man at the ceremony.

Sarah, Josh and Shane have been receiving some of the notes and letters from supporters and they told their moms that these letters they've received in prison are making a huge difference in their ability to cope with the situation. You can post a note to Free the Hikers blog at www.blog.freethehikers.org.

Tonight I pray, for these kids that these plans will become a reality. And may it happen before we have to send anymore birthday greetings to them in Iran.

May 11, 2010

I write this and Sarah Josh and Shane are in Evin Prison in Iran now for 284 Days, 14 Hours & 51 Minutes. 3 American Hikers being used as pawns. Isnt it time they come home?

The mothers of the 3 Hikers got somewhat of a mothers day gift this past Sunday, On the 284th day of captivity, the moms finally got visas to visit their children being held in Iran. Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd & Josh Fattal. The dates have yet to be set but this is a move in some sort of right direction.

Jackson Browne in showing support of the plight of the Hikers has given permission for his anti-war song to be used. The song is set to "Drums of War" and it highlights the continuing illegal imprisonment of Sarah, Josh and Shane. The film was made just as President Ahmadinejad was invited to make a key speech at the United Nations.

Please show support for these 3 Americans who are not home safe in their own beds tonight and follow them on twitter @freethehikers and use the hashtag #SSJ.

April 24, 2010

Time in Detainment:267 Days

The White House on Friday, April 23, 2010 called on Iran to release three American hikers. The call was made by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs after learning from the families of Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27, that the three are in poor health and are planning to hold a hunger strike at the Evin prison to protest the slow resolution of their case. State Secretary Hillary Clinton echoed the White House statement on Friday, calling the three detainees innocent tourists.

Today I am writing this and it is Sunday January 31, 2010. I want to take you back 6 months to Friday, July 31 2009, for on that day, three American Hikers went missing while on a short vacation trip in Iraqi Kurdistan. I am writing this so that hopefully more people will become aware of these 3 US hikers. They need to come home to their parents, brothers and sisters and they need people like you to help get the plight of their story on the front pages.

Can you imagine getting a phone call saying that your child, your sister, your brother or even your aunt was taken prisoner by the Iranian Government? Please visit Free the Hikers for here you will find the families of three American Hikers that it happened to.

Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal all three young Americans, all graduates of the University of California at Berkeley, are being held in the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran. Since being held they have not had any contact with their families.

Shane Bauer 27, has been living in Damascus, Syria with Sarah Shourd since late 2008 and is a student of Arabic, which he speaks fluently. He is originally from Minnesota. He is a journalist, and had traveled extensively through the Middle East years before. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Peace and Conflict Studies in 2007. Shane has reported from Syria, Iraq, Darfur in Sudan, Yemen and Ethiopia but has never reported from Iran, nor expressed any interest in doing so

Sarah Shourd 31, has been living with Shane in Damascus, where she teaches English and is learning Arabic. She previously taught as part of the Iraqi Student Project, a program which gives Iraqi students living in Damascus the skills to continue their education in US schools. She is originally from Oakland Ca, She was on a break from her teaching responsibilities for a week, and she and Shane decided to take a hiking trip with their friends Josh and Shon.

Joshua Fatall 27, is an environmentalist who worked for three years at the Aprovecho Research Center in Cottage Grove, Oregon, which teaches sustainable living skills. From January to June 2009, Josh was a Teaching Fellow with the International Honors Program (IHP) “Health and Community” study abroad program in Switzerland, India, China, and South Africa.

According to family members it was in late July, that the friends decided they wanted to take some time off from the city. Mr. Bauer had just finished an article for the magazine that he writes for, and Ms. Shourd had a week off from work. They had already traveled through other parts of the Middle East, and decided to explore Kurdistan.

Shon Meckfessel, another friend who accompanied the three on the trip explains, “We knew a number of people in Damascus who’d traveled to Iraqi Kurdistan and had a really good time,” You see, Shon had stayed behind at the hotel on the day they decided to go and see the beauty of this land. The reason he stayed behind was because he felt he was coming down with a cold and wanted a night to recuperate. Please read his Statement on Missing US Hikers here. It clearly explains why they were. where they were, when they were taken into custody.

Today, January 31 2010, 6 months have passed since the three hikers have been held captive. They are going to stand before an Iranian court on espionage charges. Penalty for that in Iran . . . . . is Death.

** On Thursday April 23, 2010 members of the Swiss Embassy in Tehran met with the three Americans Hikers who were arrested last July on Iran’s western borders. The meeting was their third in the past ten months. In their meeting, Swiss diplomats who represent US interests in Iran, had long discussions with the three Americans. They relayed that since being detained, the three prisoners’ health seems to have deteriorated for different reasons and they seem to be in poor mental form due to depression caused by their indeterminate state. The mothers of the Hikers were heartened that the Swiss diplomats were allowed a 40-minute visit. They were told their children have been allowed to receive letters from family and friends, and were given access to books from the prison's library, the diplomats told their families. The three were told of efforts by their families to secure their release and that their mothers applied for visas to try to visit them in prison. The Swiss diplomats reported that Bauer and Fattal were being held in the same cell. Shourd was alone in another cell, but allowed to see Bauer and Fattal once a day for a few minutes.

Sarah Shourd

She is being held alone in a cell, is suffering a serious gynecological condition and battling depression, while Shane Bauer has a stomach ailment, their mothers told The Associated Press. 

NO CONTACT FROM the US HIKERS

The passing of the sixth month of their detention has attracted limited media attention. There has been absolutely no contact between Sara, Josh or Shane and their families. The last time anyone sympathetic saw the three was at the end of October, when Swiss diplomats were granted a short visit. The U.S. has no diplomatic relationship with Iran and is represented in such matters by the Swiss. At the time, the diplomats said the three were in good health. Yet there is uncertainty about their well being.

On Capitol Hill, both the Senate and the House have passed unanimous resolutions encouraging Tehran to release Shane, Sarah and Joshua.

According to Cindy Hickey, the mother of Shane Bauer, last month the families got together and hired an Iranian attorney to press the case. But so far the Iranian attorney, Massoud Shafii, has been denied visits with the three and hasn't received any information on charges.

Iran's foreign minister said in late December that the three would be tried in court, but he did not say when a trial would begin or what the three would be charged with other than to say they had ''suspicious aims.'' Earlier, the country's chief prosecutor said they were accused of spying.

The siblings of Sara, Josh and Shane are making a call to all of us for video responses to this video. The video dialogue is intended to be a source of strength to the three hikers who are enduring a long and difficult detention and to call on Iranian authorities to speed up their proceedings and allow these Americans to return to their loving friends and families and continue with their lives.

These are sons, daughter, brothers, sister, cousins, friends...peaceful in heart and intent...they deserve to be home with their families...

If you would like to show your support for Shane, Sarah and Josh, please join their Facebook Fan Page, follow them on Twitter and use the tag #ssj , to spread the word.

• April 24, 2010 -
  

  Three American Hikers’ Evin Blues–Depression, Sickness, And Hunger Strike

• April 23, 2010 - Iran's Political Prisoners Start Hunger Strike in Evin Prison
  
• April 9, 2010 - American Hikers Attorney states that "My Clients Are Not Spies after speaking with the case judge in re the charges in this case is specifically “illegal border crossing and the charges for Illegal crossing is punished by cash penalties.”

• APR 08 | FAMILIES: 3 HIKERS DETAINED IN IRAN AREN’T SPIES

  APR 07 | 250 Days of Detention—Interview with Mothers of Hikers Shane Bauer & Sarah Shourd

  APR 03 | WSJ: IRAN IS ABUSING THREE MORE AMERICAN HOSTAGES

  MAR 20 | AMERICAN HIKERS STILL HELD IN IRAN—GMA

  MAR 18 | FAMILIES SEEK DETAINED HIKERS RELEASE ON IRANIAN NEW YEAR—AFP

  MAR 10 | PARENTS HEAR FROM THEIR SON, BEING HELD IN IRAN—WCCO

  MAR 10 | U.S. HIKERS HELD IN IRAN MAKE CALLS HOME—PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

• December 18, 2009 – Nora Shourd, mother of Sarah Shourd, sends out a video message on behalf of all three mothers to Supreme Leader Ayatolla Sayyed Ali Khamenei asking for compassion over the holiday period.

• December 20, 2009 – Nobel Prize winner Mairead Maguire calls for hikers’ release.

• December 22, 2009 – Vigils of hope are held throughout the US to provide strength and hope to the hikers.
  

• December 27, 2009 – The families of the hikers retain prominent independent attorney, Massoud Shafii, to represent their children.
  
• January 6, 2010 – Public intellectual, linguist and strident critic of American foreign policy Noam Chomsky explains Iran is detaining innocent people and calls for hikers’ release.
• January 18, 2010 – Siblings of the hikers issue a call for video responses to their video in an effort to provide support to Shane, Sarah and Josh and lobby for their release.
• January 25, 2010 – Recently released Belgian Bikers express concerns about the hikers’ conditions and psychological state due to their long periods of time in solitary confinement.
• January 29, 2010 – Berkeley City Council unanimously passes a resolution calling for the hikers’ release reminding Iran that they are part of a community frequently very critical of the United States’ foreign policies.