The one-day session ended with the announcement that another session would be required. But no date was set.
The first court date for the three was set for November but then postponed because Shourd, who was released on $500,000 bail in September, had not been notified, in an oversight acknowledged by the Iranian Judiciary. Iranian officials repeated last week that they would seize the bail and continue without her. Indeed, on Sunday, they tried her in absentia.
The trial was closed to all observers and media representatives. Even Swiss Ambassador Livia Leu Agosti, who represents US interests in Iran, was denied entry to the court. Although international law provides for foreign diplomats to attend the trials of their nationals, Agosti said she was not notified of the trial but arrived at the courtroom anyhow. She was not permitted inside the hearing. Another embassy official, Christian Winter, said the mission’s application to attend was submitted three weeks ago, but ignored. The embassy is now awaiting permission to visit with the imprisoned Bauer and Fattal in the upcoming days.
Their lawyer, Masoud Shafiei, reported that he had not seen his clients since Shourd’s release in September. Promises from the judge that he would receive access a few hours before the trial to prepare with Bauer and Fattal were not fulfilled.
“Unfortunately, they were brought late to the court session, some 15 minutes late,” he said. “Therefore they were taken directly to court, and I met them inside the court. But since I’ve requested a meeting with them, it has been decided that I will be given time to meet with Shane and Josh in prison in the coming days.”
Shafiei said he is confident his clients are innocent of both espionage and illegal entry. Although Iranian media has quoted the prosecutor’s office as saying it has “compelling evidence” of espionage, Shafiei says there is no evidence of spying or “intentional” crossing of the border. “Due to the fact that the border is not signposted and they could not have recognized it, even if [illegal entry] did happen, they are not at fault,” he said.
Shafiei said he had expected the trial to end with one session and was surprised that another was planned. Agosti was quoted as saying the trial would likely continue in the next week or two, rather than in three months as before, but she did not give a source for her information.
Mohsen Milani, chairman of the Department of Government and International Affairs at the University of South Florida, said the closed hearing was a good sign. “They are moving [in the case], which is positive for the accused,” he said.
The families of Bauer and Fattal agree, commenting that they were pleased the case had finally gone to trial, a year and a half after the hikers were arrested on the Iraqi border July 31, 2009.
Bauer and Fattal’s lawyer said the 28-year-olds are okay. “I can honestly say they were doing very well. They were wearing normal clothes, not prison uniforms,” Shafiei said after seeing the hikers in court. “They didn’t have handcuffs on but naturally they were escorted by security.” Such an appearance was an encouraging sign to many of their supporters.
Others disagreed, saying there is still cause for concern. The presiding jurist is Judge Abol-Ghasem Salavati, who is known for giving harsh sentences on little evidence and often rules in controversial political hearings. He has been dubbed the “Judge of Death,” after passing half of the death sentences of protestors in the post-election trials of 2009.
The hikers are also enduring increasingly harsher conditions in prison, says Swiss Embassy official Christian Winter. They have not had recreational time outside their cells since September and fewer of their families’ daily letters are making it into their hands.
“That kind of protracted isolation really has the possibility of doing permanent damage,” said Fattal’s brother, Alex. “So we need this to end.”
Alex Fattal, Sara Shourd and other family members spoke in a documentary screened last week at the University of Southern California, entitled “Free Shane and Josh: An Urgent Plea for Compassion.” The 25-minute film was created by Jeff Kaufman, who has made several films with Amnesty International. It tells the story of the three hikers and how their trip to the Kurdish area of Iraq resulted in their imprisonment.
In the film, Shourd adds some previously unknown details to their experience. She says, “Up to the last minute before we came to the doors of Evin Prison, they told us we were going to an airport, and they were going to put us on a plane and send us back home.”
Instead, “they blindfolded us, and they tore us apart and threw us into different cells.”
The three were not able to spend time together until about halfway through the third month of imprisonment. Afterward, they were permitted a short time outside together each day in the prison yard.
`There, Bauer proposed to Shourd. From that day, she said, “Our marriage became a symbol of our future together, and Josh was very much a part of that because Josh is going to be our best man.”