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September 20, 2010

Freed Hiker Returns to US, Urges Freeing of 2 Prisoners
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The freed American hiker Sarah Shourd has returned to the United States
following her release from an Iranian prison last week. Shourd was freed
over a year after she and her now-fiancé Shane Bauer and their friend
Joshua Fattal were arrested near the Iran-Iraq border. Bauer and Fattal
remain behind bars. After landing in New York, Shourd appealed for the
pair’s release.

Sarah Shourd: "Getting on the plane in Tehran was one of the most
memorable and important moments of my life. But this is not the time to
celebrate. My disappointment in not sharing this with Shane and Josh was
crushing, and I stand before you today only one-third free. That was the
last thing that Josh said to me before I walked through the prison
doors—Josh and Shane felt one-third free at that moment, and so
did I."

Shourd was standing with her mother along with the mothers of Bauer and
Fattal. She went on to deny again Iranian allegations that the hikers
were US spies and said they had no idea they were hiking near the Iran
border.

Sarah Shourd: "Shane and Josh do not deserve to be in prison one day
longer than I was. We committed no crime, and we are not spies. We in no
way intended any harm to the Iranian government or its people and
believe a huge misunderstanding led to our detention and prolonged
imprisonment. Shane, Josh and I had no knowledge of our proximity to the
Iran-Iraq border when we were hiking at Ahmed Awa Waterfall, a popular
tourist site frequented by local families in Iraqi Kurdistan. If we were
indeed near the Iran-Iraq border, that border was entirely unmarked and
indistinguishable."



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