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November 2, 2010

Iran Delays Hikers’ Trial; Iranian American in US Prison Alleges Torture
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Iran has delayed the trial of the two jailed Americans Shane Bauer and
Josh Fattal just one week before they were to appear in court. Bauer and
Fattal were arrested in July 2009 after hiking near the Iran-Iraq
border. A third hiker, Sarah Shourd, was freed in September and is now
back in the United States. Iranian officials say they’ve postponed the
trial because Shourd has not been summoned to appear in court. The
Iranian government has suggested it would release Bauer and Fattal in
exchange for Iranians jailed in the United States. On Monday, Iranian
state television aired an interview with an Iranian woman jailed in the
United States. The prisoner, Shahrazad Mir Gholikhan, said she had been
tortured.

Shahrazad Mir Gholikhan: "It’s awful. I was mistreated horribly. The
United States government invited me for governmental business to
America. From the airport, they put me in handcuffs, they took me to the
prison, and they started to torture me in every possible way, more
especially, you know, mentally, to become a spy and work for them to
turn in my ex-husband."



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