During a televised interview with the three American hikers who have been detained in Iran since July 2009, hiker Shane Bauer confirms a key assertion of The Nation’s breaking story, US Hikers Were Seized in Iraq. When a reporter asks the hikers, “So do you regret walking into Iran?” Bauer responds, “We never walked into Iran. We can’t really talk about that.”
The Nation reported last week that two witnesses to the hikers’ arrest claim the three Americans were actually apprehended on Iraqi soil. The video also confirms The Nation’s report that uniformed guards from Iran’s national police forced the hikers to cross into Iran at gunpoint. Under Iranian laws, the video asserts, the hikers have committed no crimes. Nora Shourd, mother of hiker Sarah Shourd, says, “These children are being held for what reason and with all this new information, they should be released immediately.”
The hikers have been in Iran’s Evin prision for nearly a year while the US and Iran refuse to communicate on the matter. This interview occurred as the hikers met with their mothers last month.
The video was created by Safe World, a UK human rights NGO supporting the campaign for the prisoners’ release.
—Melanie Breault
