What's Next for American Hikers?

In July of 2009, three American hikers were captured in Iran and accused of being spies. On Sept. 14, after over a year of imprisonment in Iran, one of the hikers was released. 32 year-old Sarah Shourd is the first of the hikers to be released after Swiss negotiation officials paid a $500,000 bail.

The question on everyone’s mind now is: what about the other two hikers? Shane Baur and Josh Fattal, both 28 years old, remain in Iranian custody. At the U.N. Assembly the week of Sept. 20 Iranian President Mahmound Ahmadinejad refused to promise the release of the American men, citing the release of Shourd as a “huge humanitarian gesture” already.

The imprisonment of the Americans came shortly after the re-election of Ahmadinejad back in 2009, whose re-election was fraught with accusations of fraud. Tensions over the accusations heightened anti-American sentiments in the country.

“[Iran is] trying to create a favorable environment and a trading environment for themselves and to point out that they don’t like things that America does,” says Josh Landis, Director for Middle Eastern Studies. “ And if you are bad to us we can be bad to you, but we also have mercy and we can be good to you if you are good to us.”

Landis believes it is all an effort to push Ahmadinejad’s ‘we can have a dialogue’ proposition to the United States. While negotiators are working on the release of Baur and Fattal, it appears the Iranian government wants a deal similar to the release of Shourd for each American. For more information and to track the story visit www.freethehikers.org.