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You Say Bail, I Say Ransom

Posted by: Linda Carbonell on September 13, 2011.

Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal

The media is speculating about a possible release deal for American hikers Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, who have been convicted of spying and sentenced to 3 years in prison in Iran, with no credit for the two years they have already been in custody. They were arrested in July, 2009, when they and companion Sarah Shourd allegedly wandered over the unmarked border between Iraq and Iran.

Shourd was released on $500,000 bail last year “on humanitarian grounds” and refused to return to Iran for her trial earlier this year. Her release came just before Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was scheduled to attend the annual meeting of the United Nations general assembly. This year’s meeting is scheduled for next month. Lawyer Masoud Shafiei said the Iranian courts would begin processing Bauer and Fattal after receipt of $500,000 bail for each.

It had been hoped that Bauer and Fattal would be released in early August, as part of Ramadan, but that never materialized. Ahmadinejad’s trip to New York is being cited as a cause for the new proposal, but Ahmadinejad has no control over the case. The judiciary in Iran is entirely in the hands of the clerics. Ahmadinejad was interviewed on NBC’s Today show and predicted that the pair would be released “in a couple of days.” He called the bail offer a “humanitarian gesture” and called attention to the Iranians being held in American prisons.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters, “We obviously hope that we will see a postitive outcome from what appears to be a decision by the [Iranian] government.” The State Department is not directly involved in any negotiations for their release because we have no diplomatic relationship with Iran. All communication must take place through a third nation.

Bauer and Fattal are both 29 years old. Bauer proposed to fellow prisoner Shourd while she was still in prison with them. Fattal’s mother, Laura Fattal lives in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, and had no comment for the press. Bauer grew up in Onamia, Minnesota and Shourd is from a suburb of Philadelphia. She is currently living in Oakland, California. Bauer’s and Fattal’s families were permitted a short visit with the prisoners in May, 2010.

The Bauer and Fattal cases are typical of such situations in Iran. A foreigner is arrested on spying charges, held for a couple of years before trial, sentenced to several years in prison and then released after posting bail. When Latin American criminals do this, it’s called kidnapping for ransom. When Iran does it, it’s national security and bail.