Shane Bauer, 28, Josh Fattal, 29, and Sarah Shourd, 32, were taken into Iranian custody July 31, 2009, when they say they were lured across the border from Iraq. Shourd was released last September on bail, but did not return to Iran for the first part of the trial in February.
The next part of the trial was originally scheduled for May 11, but with no explanation at the time, Bauer and Fattal were not brought to the court, and the session was canceled. Last Tuesday, Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi asserted that a lack of coordination was at fault for the delay, but that meanwhile the detainees were experiencing “the best conditions” in prison.
On Monday, the Americans’ defense attorney, Masoud Shafii, told the Los Angeles Times, “I’ve just received an official notification that says the next trial [session] will be on July 31 in the morning, which is exactly the anniversary of their arrest in the Iran-Iraq border two years ago.”
Shafii is optimistic the July 31 session will be the end. The fact that Shourd was not ordered by Iranian officials to return to Iran for the latest hearing “gives me the hint and hope that the hikers might be released on that day,” Shafii said.
In an email interview with The New York Times last week, he said, “This case is political, and unfortunately my clients have been held hostage, and they have become playthings for the government.”
The Iranian government’s suggestion several months ago that the hikers be traded for Iranians in American jails proves the politicization of the case, says Shafii. “Asking for a prisoner swap indicates that they are holding hostages, and this is against the Iranian people, who are against holding hostages and who do not want their national reputation marred,” Shafii wrote.
The US does not consider the men to be hostages, however, said a State Department official speaking on condition of anonymity. Washington “had been very careful” to avoid naming the situation as political. He added that the Swiss government, which has been representing the American interests in Iran, has been “very energetic” on the case, but has only been able to visit the men three times, the last of which was October 26.