American hikers: 1 year in Iranian prison

PHILADELPHIA, July 28 (UPI) -- Three American hikers accused by Iran of illegal entry remain in a Tehran prison after a year in legal limbo without formal charges, U.S officials say.

Joshua Fattal, 28, of Pennsylvania, Shane Bauer, 28, of Minnesota and Sarah Shourd, 31, of California were hiking in a mountainous resort area of northern Iraq when they allegedly strayed across the unmarked border into Iran July 31, 2009.

"The American hikers" as they are known, were arrested six weeks after anti-government protests erupted in the streets of Tehran and as the United States began stepping up its opposition to Iran's alleged nuclear program.

"The timing could not have been worse. They entered Iran at a very, very bad time" in terms of suspicions about outsiders, Hooshang Amirahmadi, the Iranian-born director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., was quoted as saying in the Wednesday edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer. "The streets were in the hands of the youth, and suddenly these American kids appear on the border."

Iranian officials allege the hikers entered the country intentionally to spy on and incite resistance to its regime even though the hikers have not been formally charged with any crime, the newspaper said.

Amirahmadi speculated the hikers were being held as possible future bargaining chips.

"Remember, the Iranian government is a deal-maker," Amirahmadi said. "You have some of the people that we consider our friends. And we have people that you consider your people, so let's just make a deal," he said of the Iranians' possible thinking.