Iraq seeks release of arrested hikers

BAGHDAD, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Sunday he has asked Iran to release three U.S. hikers being held by Tehran after straying into Iranian territory.

Zebari said the hikers were simply lost tourists, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"They entered the country without knowledge of the terrain," he said. "From the way we studied the case, and the way they were wandering round without maps, we think this was not something serious."

Zebari said Iraq requested the hikers' release on humanitarian grounds because they had been visiting Iraq as tourists. He said he made the request during a meeting last week with the Iranian ambassador to Iraq and although he had no reason to believe their release is imminent he hoped to receive an answer to his request in the near future, the newspaper said.

In a statement issued Sunday, Zebari said he met with Iranian Ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qomi, CNN reported. The statement said Zebari asked Qomi for details about the circumstances surrounding the arrests of Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal.

They were taken into custody July 31 in Iraq's Kurdistan region and charged with "illegal entry" when they allegedly crossed over the unmarked border from Iraq into Iran.

Mohammed Karim Abedi, who sits on the Iranian parliament's National Security Committee, said on Iran's state-run TV channel that three Americans were "definitely" spies.

Bauer is an aspiring journalist who contributes to the Web site New America Media, Sandy Close of the site's parent Pacific News Service told The New York Times.

In an appearance Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," National Security Adviser James Jones said the White House has "sent strong messages that we'd like these three young people released as soon as possible."

The United States does not have formal diplomatic relations with Iran.