Thursday, May 20, 2010
Unjust iranian imprisonment
While three American hikers were treking threw Iran's Iraq's scenic mountainous northern Kurdish region. They where accused of spying and entering Iran illegally on the border of Iraq. The mothers of these Berkley studtent's are hart broken and distraught b/c it is possible that there sons might have too go to one of the worst prisons in Iran. In my own personal belife i think that the court systems in Iraq could have done a much better job investigateing this so called crime.
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So I read the article and it turns out the three American hikers who were said to be trekking through Iran's scenic mountainous northern Kurdish region were in fact accused of spying and have already spent 10 months in one of Tehran's most dreaded prisons.
Just recently the Iran government granted them visas to visit their children.
Since then the arrest, the US has pushed for harsher sanctions to free the Americans. Also "The three prisoners did not specifically address any of the accusations. It's unclear whether this was their decision or a requirement by Iranian officials."
This whole situation seems quite sketch: you have 3 Americans who were accused of trespassing and spying, but none of them specifically addressed the accusations nor was there actual proof... You can't just say someone is spying and trespassing and then arrest them for 10 months, with nothing being really said by either party.
Anyways this reminds me of a story which is somewhat similar. During the summer of my sophomore year, I went to China with the band. On the last day when we were leaving we were eating food at the airport. Douglas Bell as some of you may remember forgot to pay his bill at the restaurant and simply walked out. My friends and I were confused. So after 5 minutes of debating we should get him or not, one of us quickly ran after him. 2 minutes later you see Douglas sprinting across the terminal to pay and everything turned out okay.
Unlike the Iran imprisonment, this situation turned out much better, but could of ended much worse. Because both situations happened outside of US borders, I believe that the US cannot try them in US courts, but rather the country's government in which they committed the crime can.
I think besides Iran's claims of Nuclear Weapons, situations like this are why the United States and Iran have such bad relations. I just wonder why the three students didn't "address the accusations" of spying and trespassing. Why wouldn't they want to deny the fact if they didn't actually do those things, especially when there was no proof. Also, if they did, I really don't think 10 months of prison in Iran is still justified.
Side note, Brian I totally forgot about the Douglas thing until now. That's was so funny/awkward/scary.
I think that the Iranian government is fully aware that these hikers were not trying to spy, or sneak into the country illegally. It seems to have an obsession (and history) of randomly taking innocent people hostage for unnecessary lengths of time. I certainly hope these hikers are released soon!
(But seriously, out of all of the places to go hiking…)
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