Mother's Day UPDATE

[Free the Hikers]

Hi Friends and Supporters of Shane, Sarah and Josh,

Today is a particularly tough day for our families as we are passing
Mother’s Day without Shane, Sarah and Josh. We are shocked that over
five months after their mothers applied for visas to visit them those
visas have still not been issued. Prisoners around the world are
entitled to visits from family members. This egregious delay in
issuing the visas is just one more right that Iran is denying the
hikers.
We tried to meet Ahmadinejad in New York to plead our case but we were
unable to get a meeting. We do understand that many people raised our
issue with him while he was in town, hopefully this will have some
effect.

STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY

Below you will find a statement of solidarity with Shane, Sarah and
Josh, signed by Noam Chomsky, Angela Davis, Michael Hardt, Cindy
Sheehan and Cornel West. So far the mainstream media has not picked up
on it, but it would be great if you could blog about it or get media
outlets to publicize it.

Please continue to advocate for Shane, Sarah and Josh however you can.
Safe World for Women has recently started a vigorous effort to
highlight the injustice of their detention. They have created this
video and undertaken many other actions with their members and
supporters, which has been amazing. Thank You!

Advocacy abroad is particularly valuable. If you manage to document
any advocacy abroad please send it to the Iranian embassy in your
country or in a neighboring country if there is no embassy in your
country and ask that it be forwarded to the relevant authorities in
Tehran. Media attention abroad is important. Der Spiegel will be
highlighting the situation and other European and South Asian outlets
have written on the topic but we continue to struggle to
internationalize the campaign. Your help here is invaluable. If you
know of any communications professionals who can dedicate some pro
bono time to getting international media attention please put them in
touch with Shane’s mom, Cindy Hickey, freeth...@gmail.com .

Thanks for all of your kind thoughts and supportive actions over the
course of this seemingly endless ordeal. We continue to try to make it
clear that Iran stands more to lose than to gain by holding on to
Shane, Sarah and Josh a moment longer. Now as international pressure
on Iran mounts it is critical to keep up the drumbeat. Thank you for
helping us do that.

Gratefully yours,
Alex

STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY WITH SHANE BAUER, SARAH SHOURD AND JOSH
FATTAL, WHO HAVE BEEN UNJUSTLY DETAINED IN IRAN SINCE JULY 31, 2009
We are writing in support of Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd, and Josh
Fattal who have
been unjustly detained for more than nine months. These three young
people are
active members of a global community opposed to US aggression in the
Middle East.
They do not deserve to be punished for the policies of their
government and the
tensions they engender.
We hope that people of conscience throughout the globe will come to
the defense of
Shane, Sarah and Josh. If they crossed into Iranian territory,
although this is unclear,
they have already paid dearly for their mistake. Iran’s continued
detention of these
three thoughtful and compassionate individuals who were on an innocent
vacation
is an unacceptable abuse of their rights in an effort to make a
political point. We join
together in calling on Iran to adopt a humane stand and release Shane,
Sarah and
Josh to their terribly distressed families.
************************************************************************************
Noam Chomsky, Angela Davis, Michael Hardt, Cindy Sheehan, Cornel West


PS - Below are some recent press reports available on the website in
case you haven’t seen them:

http://freethehikers.org/?page_id=424

May 8, 2010 Families of jailed hikers face bleak Mother's Day
MAY 07 | US RENEWS CALLS FOR RELEASE OF AMERICANS HELD IN IRAN—AFP
MAY 07 | HIKERS’ MOMS ASK IRAN FOR COMPASSION ON MOTHER’S DAY—CNN
MAY 06 | MOMS OF HIKERS HELD IN IRAN: ‘STOP PLAYING GAMES WITH OUR
KIDS’—ABC – GOOD MORNING AMERICA
MAY 05 | US SENATORS DENY IRAN CHARGE DETAINED HIKERS HAVE SPY LINKS—
AFP
MAY 04 | LAWMAKERS CALL FOR IRAN HIKERS’ RELEASE—NBC – BAY AREA
MAY 04 | KLOBUCHAR, FRANKEN PUSH AHMADINEJAD TO FREE HIKERS—AP
MAY 04 | BOXER TO IRAN: FREE JAILED HIKERS FOR MOTHER’S DAY—THE OC
REGISTER
MAY 03 | MOTHER OF HOSTAGE HELD IN IRAN SPEAKS OUT—NPR
MAY 03 | WHAT KIND OF MOTHER’S DAY? A QUESTION FOR IRAN’S PRESIDENT—
HUFFINGTON POST
APR 30 | IRAN: FREE THREE AMERICANS HELD SINCE JULY—HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
APR 30 | ایران: سه امریکایی را که از مرداد ماه بازداشت شده اند آزاد
کنید—HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH_PERSIAN
APR 30 | DETAINED HIKERS’ FAMILIES IMPLORE IRAN LEADER FOR RELEASE—
POLITICO
APR 29 | FAMILIES IMPLORE IRAN LEADER TO BRING AMERICAN PRISONERS HOME
ON TRIP TO U.S.—MERCURY NEWS
APR 28 | ستان ارسال این خبر به: ارسال کپی به: ایمیل شما: عنوان پیام:
نسخه چاپی نسخه ساده لینک دایمی چرا باید در مورد سه آمریکایی که در اوین
به سر میبرند بدانیم؟—KHODNEVIS
APR 28 | IRAN HIKER’S FATHER: TUTU’S SUPPORT IS ‘GREAT’—CBS-WCCO
APR 28 | DESMOND TUTU: RELEASE 3 US HIKERS HELD IN IRAN—AP
APR 23 | LES RANDONNEURS AMÉRICAINS DÉTENUS EN IRAN EN MAUVAISE SANTÉ—
LE MONDE
APR 23 | واشنگتن خواهان اعطای ویزا به خانواده های گردشگران بازداشتی شد—
BBC PERSIAN
APR 23 | WHY YOU SHOULD CARE ABOUT THE THREE AMERICANS HELD IN IRAN—
MONTHLY REVIEW