USA/FILE: Released American hiker Sarah Shourd speaks about her experiences in an Iranian prison

Record ID: 726255

  • Title: USA/FILE: Released American hiker Sarah Shourd speaks about her experiences in an Iranian prison
  • Date: 29th September 2010
  • Summary: MUSCAT, OMAN (FILE - SEPTEMBER 14, 2010) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) ***CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** SHOURD DISEMBARKING FROM PLANE AFTER SHE WAS RELEASED FROM IRANIAN JAIL, MEETING HER MOTHER SHOURD AND HER TEARFUL MOTHER HUGGING
  • Embargoed: 14th October 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA6GPIW98U2WPNZNADKKGM70937
  • Story Text: Sarah Shourd, the American woman who was held in Iran for over a year, recounted her experiences to Reuters on Tuesday (September 28), describing her feelings of distress, panic and confusion when she was detained along with her fiancé and friend, and then placed in a Tehran prison, on suspicion of espionage.
    Thirty-two-year-old Shourd explained how she was hiking near a popular tourist attraction in Iraqi Kurdistan, the Ahmed Awa waterfall, when she and her 28-year-old fiancé, Shane Bauer, and their friend, 28-year-old Josh Fattal, were detained by soldiers.
    "We hiked for several hours when we saw some soldiers and our first impression was, oh ok, no big deal, it's just some Iraqi soldiers who just want to ask us a few questions or maybe they're just curious about us, that's why they're gesturing to us....they were quite a ways in the distance and they gestured to us to approach, so we kept walking on the trail until we met them and they told us that we were near the Iranian...we couldn't communicate with them, but they were speaking in Farsi and we were confused and they were just kind of...wanted to see our passports and we pleaded and we tried to leave, you know, we just walked away and then they ordered us to return. They had guns. We had no choice but to follow them and we...they took us in their jeep," Shourd said.
    She added that the trio had had no knowledge that they were near to the Iran border and that they had not immediately understood the gravity of the situation.
    "The whole time they were saying: 'Oh, this is going to be over in an hour. We just need you to talk to our boss and we'll take you back.' We just...it was incredibly shocking, because there was no indication of a border. We were on a well-marked trail behind a tourist site. There was no fence, no flag, no sign, no building of any kind and no reason for us to believe that we were near a border," she explained.
    The three were detained on July 31, 2009, and Shourd said it wasn't until they were taken to Evin Prison in Tehran that they realized what was unfolding.
    "Well, I think there were, you know, two voices playing in my head at the point: the one that just said, 'Oh, once they ask us a few questions, they'll realize we're tourists and they're going to let us go and this is all going to blow over', and that's what we were all saying to each other. There was also this other voice that was saying, 'Well, this is a bit more scary than anything that's ever happened to me before and am I really ready for this?' and the answer was just, 'You don't have any choice. This has happened and whether you're ready or not, this is happening'," Shourd explained.
    "You know, it was really the moment that they tore us apart and when we arrived in Tehran and they took us to Evin Prison and we were forced to go into separate cells and I screamed and cried all night long because being separated, I didn't know when I would ever see them again. I had no idea what was going to happen to me and that was definitely one of the worst moments."
    Shourd was released on September 14 of this year, but Bauer and Fattal remain in prison.
    Despite a meeting on Friday (September 24) between Shourd and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in New York, and continued international appeals for Fattal and Bauer's release, Shourd said little news is emerging from Tehran on the fate of the two men.
    "Well, there really hasn't been any direct news from Tehran about Shane and Josh. When I was released on bail they were indicted, so the charges have formally been stated and we're just, we're waiting for news, you know. There's really no assurances," she explained.
    Asked to describe the most painful part of her detention, Shourd said the uncertainty of the situation and the feeling of helplessness, was often unbearable.
    "Not knowing when I was going to be freed was just a constant stress and you would think that after...you know, I thought myself that after a few months or you know, even after six months I'd be able to sort of stop thinking about that, you know. Is it going to be another week? Is it going to be another month? Another year? But really you can never stop thinking about it and that's why being in prison and not knowing when you're going to get out is extremely distressing mentally and it really takes its toll," she said.
    "Every time that the solitude would sort of break me down...every time I came out to see them, I was crying uncontrollably or just like really trapped in myself. They found a way to bring me out and that's really what keeps you going."
    Under Iran's Islamic law, espionage can be punishable by execution. The case has further complicated relations between Tehran and Washington, which are strained over Iran's nuclear program.
    But Shourd hopes her experience will be the start of a strengthened dialogue between the U.S. and Iran and she vows to keep campaigning for better relations between the two nations as she continues to advocate for Fattal and Bauer's release.
    "Being apart from Shane is really difficult, my fiancé. And Josh is now my best friend for life. And being apart from them is a really difficult trade-off and I hope it doesn't last much longer."
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