The Quest for Freedom

It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you. ~Anonymous

While many of us take for granted, the ability to sit in the comfort of our homes and in the presence of our families; three, young, American hikers have not been able to do just that since July 31, 2009.

Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal have been detained by the government of Iran without one single charge being presented in court against them. They have been held for nearly nine months in Evin prison and only allowed to contact their families once. Nine months. One phone call.

In September of 2009 Iranian President Ahmadinejad told an AP reporter he would request that the case be, "expedited and "examined with maximum leniency."" What is expeditious or lenient about nine months?

A recent visit by Swiss diplomats who reported that two of the three are in ill health highlights the increasing seriousness of further unabated detainment.

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_14941880

So all of this begs the obvious question: why have they not been released? And more importantly, why hasn't this been made more of an issue by the U.S. Government? Two former prisoners, Omid Memarian who was detained for 55 days in 2004 and Roxana Saberi who was detained for 100 days in 2009 correctly surmise that if this was a legal issue, formal charges would have already been brought. Instead, this has become a political and human rights issue where these three detainees are being used as pawns.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303960604575157880476050498.html

The bottom line is that we cannot allow that. People are not pawns to be used and played with in an international game of "gotcha." Iran must be held accountable and the United States must waste no more time in negotiating their release. Euna Lee and Laura Ling were released from North Korea after nearly five months of detainment following a diplomatic mission by President Clinton and others to secure their pardon. That can and should be done in this situation as well. Iran is a different "game" than North Korea but nevertheless it's one that can be won with the proper diplomatic approach.

The families of these three have been fighting this battle since the beginning to bring attention to their loved ones story and to plead for their release. http://freethehikers.org/ For nearly nine months they have been tackling this with dogged persistence and have longed to have them back home. If you even have to question why you should help bring attention to their story and implore our government to act quickly, look at your loved one and imagine them gone with no idea of when they might ever return. Then join in the call to bring them home so that they can again be free.