Hikers held in Iran pass captivity mark

TEHRAN, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Two U.S. hikers in prison in Iran have been held as long as the U.S. Embassy hostages were during the presidency of Jimmy Carter, observers said.

Monday marked the hiker's 444th day in custody, the same number of days the 52 American hostages taken by armed Iranian students who seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution in 1979 were held, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

The embassy captives were released when Ronald Reagan succeeded Carter.

But for hikers Joshua Fattal and Shane Bauer there is no release in sight yet.

Fattal and Bauer, both 28, and Sarah Shourd, 32, were hiking in Iraqi Kurdistan on July 31, 2009, when Iranian border guards arrested them.

Iran said the trio had entered the country illegally and accused them of espionage.

If they had in fact crossed the unmarked frontier, the hikers said, it was unintentional.

Shourd, reportedly suffering medical problems, was released last month in what Iran said was a humanitarian gesture.

Akbar Ahmed, chairman of Islamic studies at American University in Washington and a former Pakistani diplomat, said dangers routinely confront embassy personnel, who know they are "lightning rods."

"But to pick up three kids who are blatantly out there as hikers ... and to hold them officially for a length of time now equaling the captivity of the American hostages" is abusive, he said.

The mothers of Fattal, Bauer and Shourd met with President Obama in September.

His first words, Fattal's mother said, were, "I know this is my responsibility, to gain their release."

"We remain hopeful that Iran will demonstrate renewed compassion and do the right thing," Obama said.