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3 Americans now held in Iran for half of a year

31 January 2010 04:27 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ziya Agazade â€“ APA. It’s been six months since three young Americans were taken into custody in Iran, and the mother of one said even hiring an attorney in Iran has brought no new information on how they are doing, APA reports citing â€œAssociated Pressâ€.

"It’s like there’s this brick wall in front of us, and we can’t get through," Cindy Hickey, the mother of Shane Bauer, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "The concern for me as a mother is how this has to be taking a toll on them psychologically, and I would like someone to see them physically to tell me that they’re in OK health."
Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal were hiking in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region in July when they accidentally crossed the border, their families have said. All three are graduates of the University of California at Berkeley.

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.

Their jailing comes amid continued tension between the U.S. and Iran over that nation’s nuclear program.

It also parallels in some ways the captivity of Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American who grew up in Fargo, N.D., and like Bauer, worked as a freelance journalist. Saberi was jailed in Iran in February 2009, tried and convicted of espionage â€” but then released to return to the U.S. after about four months.

"If the Iranian judiciary has concluded that Shane, Sarah and Josh entered Iran without proper documentation, then surely six months in prison is sufficient punishment for any violation of regulations that may have occurred," the families said.