Iran Reportedly Charges 3 Detained American Hikers With Espionage

Iran Reportedly Charges 3 Detained American Hikers With Espionage

www.foxnews.com

Three American hikers who have been detained in Iran after crossing into the country from Iraq have been charged with espionage, Iran's State News Agency reported.

Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27, have been detained in Iran since July 31. Their families say they entered the Islamic Republic accidentally while hiking in a scenic area of northern Iraq.

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So these guys have been detained since July 31st but have just now been charged. As usual this can't be good but just like so many of these incidents I am predicting that they will get released and that this will go nowhere.

Incidents like this always appear to be monstrous and important but always end up as nothing which is a good thing. Nonetheless it is a relevant story and who knows maybe it will turn into an international incident.

I haven't googled the guys names and investigated who they are maybe some ATSers know their background. TBH i didn't even know there were 3 Americans detained in Iran and they have been there for 3 months.

www.foxnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Originally posted by Beefcake
So these guys have been detained since July 31st but have just now been charged.

Playing devil's advocate: How long have the prisoners at gitmo been detained without being charged?

What I would like to know is what in the heck possesses someone to go hiking in a war torn country? Especially when you are perceived as the "enemy"?

Originally posted by Nutter

Originally posted by Beefcake
So these guys have been detained since July 31st but have just now been charged.

Playing devil's advocate: How long have the prisoners at gitmo been detained without being charged?

What I would like to know is what in the heck possesses someone to go hiking in a war torn country? Especially when you are perceived as the "enemy"?

Oh no i agree with you so you're not really devil's advocate i just stated "just now charged" because some might think that this was an old story because they had been there for 3 months but the breaking news aspect is that they have just been charged.

My opinion is that they are probably agents because the chances of 3 white guys hiking from Iraq to Iran these days is very slim i guess it could happen but it sounds like a stretch.

Hiking in iraq/iran? Seriously? I was not aware that those were nice vacation spots. No, that does not mean they should just be held for no reason, but it is suspect. Sure they might have some nice pretty areas for hiking, but it's a damn war zone, would you go hiking in germany or france during world war two? not if you wanted to keep your head

This seems to be the best explanation of what has occurred:

Hostages

However, back in August, the London Telegraph had a very different version:

“This was not a case of the Americans straying into Iran,” [a local tribal leader] said. “They were targeted and captured by a group that came over from Iran, ignoring Iraq’s sovereignty. We know this and it means that Iran must have wanted to take Americans hostage at this sensitive time.”

As we know, the Islamic Republic delights in taking hostages and then “stockpiling” them for future use. The hikers are not the only American hostages seized by the Iranians in the recent past. There is the case of Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who disappeared on Kish Island in March, 2007. The Iranians deny any knowledge of Levinson’s whereabouts. And then there is the unfortunate Kian Tajbakhsh, formerly employed by one of George Soros’s groups, who has been sentenced to fifteen years in prison for alleged participation in recent protests against the phony June elections.

Meanwhile, three Iranians–two of whom are clearly important people–have defected. One, Shahram Amiri, is a nuclear physicist who worked on the secret “Ferdo” site near Qom that has attracted so much attention in the past two months. He disappeared from Saudi Arabia in May. The second, General Ali Reza Asgari, is a former deputy defense minister and high-ranking officer of the Revolutionary Guards who helped create Hezbollah. He vanished without a trace from a hotel in Istanbul in February, 2007. The third, a Mr. Ardebili, appears to be an arms dealer who disappeared from Georgia this summer.

I have been told that the Iranians have informed the American Government that the hikers will only be released if the United States sends the three Iranians back home. Could Washington do this, even on the virtually impossible assumption that it wished to? I don’t think so. I believe that Amiri defected to France, not to the United States. I don’t know where Asgari is, but I have been told by CIA officials in no uncertain terms that he is not under American control, although he is in “a friendly country,” is available to American debriefers, and has provided invaluable information. As for Ardebili, I have no information about his whereabouts.

There is one amusing sidebar to the Amiri story. While the Iranians fume about his defection, he is helping Iran’s enemies, bigtime. According to Le Figaro, via the terrific new web site “Planet Iran”:

French Daily Newspaper Le Figaro reports: Prior to traveling to Iran, the IAEA inspectors who were to inspect the Ferdo Iranian nuclear facility outside of Qom, met with Shahram Amiri, the Iranian nuclear scientist who recently fled Iran. According to Le Figaro, this meeting took place in Frankfurt.

This is our world. Iranian soldiers cross the Iraqi border and snatch three American tourists. Meanwhile, important Iranians find a way to escape the regime’s clutches, and join the West. The Iranians propose a swap that amounts to this: citizens of a free country can only regain their freedom if former citizens of an evil tyranny are sent back to the tyrannical country to face a terrible fate.

Charging them with espionage is another card they've left to play until now, probably hoping to bring the US back to the negotiating table again for a few more weeks before there's sanctions. All part of the game.

reply to post by Finn1916


Yeah its very suspicious, I mean no other Americans would be vacationing in Iraq right? Show me pics of Americans vacationing in Iraq besides those 3. These Americans are CIA and should be put to death. Way to go Iran, that should teach the CIA a lesson.

"Three American hikers who were arrested in Iran this summer after straying across its border with Iraq have been accused of spying, an Iranian state news agency reported on Monday."

Sooooo. what's the penalty for espionage? Anyone?