Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Does anyone know about this? Help the Hikers!

Ten Months ago three American hikers Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal accidentally crossed the the mountainous border from Kurdistan into Iran; this past July. Upon crossing the border, which the Americans said was by accident, the Iranian police took them into custody. They have been detained in an Iranian prison for over ten months now. Two of the Americans Shane and Sarah had been studying Arabic and teaching English when they decided to do some hiking in northern Iraq. No none told them however, that this beautiful mountain kingdom in Kurdistan was only 5 miles from the Iranian border, and there was no markings or border control. Upon being taken into custody they were blindfolded and interrogated harshly being suspected as American foreign agents. They were kept in serious isolation for the first few months, but this isolation lessened as time went on. According to sources two of them are now suffering from physical ailments and they are obviously suffering from some pshycological damage at this point. Why have these hikers not gotten the attention they deserve? In other cases when more wealthy and better connected Americans have been taken hostage in North Korea or Iran, it is serious news. Yet for these three people have criticised them calling them "morons" for walking in a war zone. Personally, I applaud their adventurous spirit as it is of the utmost importance that people in Kurdistan and those living in the other parts of them Middle East get exposure to what worldly Americans are like. These hikers are helping to breakdown stereotypes about Americans and are showing that they aren't afraid of meeting people of different cultures. Kurdistan is the safest place in Iraq for Westerners, and it was not their fault they crossed the border into Iran. I imagine it would be hard to be sure where your going in that type of mountainous enviorement. We need the media to pay more attention to these hikers who are being held against their will!

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