US hikers accuse Iran of holding them hostage

Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer say they ‘lived in world of lies and false hope’ during the 781 days they spent in detention Two American hikers detained in Iran for more than two years have described the anguish of being denied contact with their families or news about their case, saying they “lived in a world of lies and false hope”. Addressing reporters in New York shortly after arriving in the US following their release from prison last week , Joshua Fattal and Shane Bauer, both 29, said they were hugely happy to be free but felt no sense of gratitude towards authorities in Tehran. “We want to be clear: they do not deserve undue credit for ending what they had no right and no justification to start in the first place,” Fattal said. “From the very start, the only reason we have been held hostage is because we are American.” The pair were seized along with fellow American Sarah Shourd in July 2009 by Iranian guards while they were hiking in Iraq’s Kurdish region, near an unmarked border with Iran. Fattal and Bauer were convicted of spying last month . Shourd, who became engaged to Bauer during their detention, was released separately last year. The men, standing with Shourd, 31, on Sunday, said they went on repeated hunger strikes to pressure authorities into passing them the daily letters written by their families. Eventually they were told their relatives had stopped writing. The last direct contact the pair had came in May 2010, when their mothers were allowed a brief visit to Tehran, and for the most part the men were held in near isolation. Fattal said: “Solitary confinement was the worst experience of all of our lives. We lived in a world of lies and false hope.” He added: “Many times, too many times, we heard the screams of other prisoners being beaten and there was nothing we could do to help them.” He and Bauer were reunited with their families, and Shourd, in Oman on Wednesday. Relatives said the men described trying to keep fit by lifting water bottles and ripping cloth from blindfolds to keep their sandals on their feet, so they could run. Before Shourd was repatriated she and Bauer forged a romance during the maximum of an hour a day they were permitted to be together. He proposed to her, creating a makeshift engagement ring using threads taken from his shirt. She told reporters: “Shane and Josh and I are beginning our lives again, and there are so many new joys that await us. I’ve never felt as free as I feel today.” The couple had, as yet, made no wedding plans, she added. Fattal and Bauer, who took turns reading parts of a prepared statement and did not take questions, said they would never know if they had even crossed the border into Iran, but if they had done so it was entirely accidental. The three hikers, Bauer said, “oppose the US policies towards Iran which perpetuate this hostility”. After 781 days in detention, the men had been given no clue their release was imminent, Fattal said, describing how he and Bauer had expected to be returned to their cells as usual after their brief daily outdoor exercise. Instead, they were given civilian clothes and taken to another part of the prison where an Omani diplomat told them: “Let’s go home.” Within hours they were being flown to Oman. The release, styled by Iran as a gesture of clemency, involved a $1m (£640,000) bail payment. The men’s families say they do not know who paid this. Some speculation suggests Oman could have done so. Shourd was released after a similar payment was made. Iran Middle East United States Oman US foreign policy Peter Walker guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 26, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.