In July of 2009, three Americans were arrested after crossing into Iran through an unmarked border while traveling.
After they were arrested, they were charged with espionage. One of the travelers, Sarah Shourd, was released for medical reasons. Her bail was $500,000.
The other two, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, have been in prison ever since. After 19 months, their trial is finally beginning this week.
Naturally, this series of events has sparked lots of controversy. Many people believe the two travelers are simply political prisoners, and they are only being held due to the rough relationship between the United States and Iran.
Others, however, have pointed out that there may be reason to believe the accused are guilty. For one thing, very few American tourists travel to Iraq (where they were before they crossed the border) for the purpose of hiking. Due to the high amount of danger, especially for Americans, it is not a popular tourist destination.
This, of course, begs the question of what they were doing there. While it is possible that they were just vacationers with offbeat tastes in travel destination, it is not unreasonable to believe they had ulterior motives for being there.
Quite simply, both sides have reason to be suspicious.
It is reasonable for Americans to think this is occurring for political reasons, and that the hikers were simply tourists. Considering that no evidence has come out showing that they were spies, that may well be the case.
At the same time, Iran cannot be blamed for defending itself. If two Iranian tourists crossed the U.S. border, they would likely face the same amount of scrutiny. If nothing else, the hikers were suspicious, and Iran had reason to believe they may be a dangerous presence.
Hopefully, after the trial, this situation will look a lot clearer. In the meantime, however, The Spectrum believes neither side can be judged.
It may be proven that they were simply tourists who crossed a border by accident, or we may find out that they actually were there for espionage purposes.
Until we know for sure, however, we cannot make rash judgments about either side. Due to the volatile relations between the U.S. and Iran, this is a situation where it is easy to jump to conclusions.
We believe it is important to avoid that. Even if the accusations against the hikers are false, the suspicion on the part of Iran was understandable. At the same time, it's fairly reasonable to question if anti-American sentiment played a factor in the charges, or in the delayed trial. Only when the facts come out will we know for sure.
