{"id":3067,"date":"2011-09-22T06:51:40","date_gmt":"2011-09-22T14:51:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/?p=3067"},"modified":"2011-09-22T06:51:40","modified_gmt":"2011-09-22T14:51:40","slug":"iran-releases-u-s-hikers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran Releases U.S. Hikers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

U.S. hikers Shane Bauer, right, and Josh Fattal, sat in Tehran's Mehrabad airport before leaving for Oman. (Photo courtesy Reuters)<\/p><\/div>\n

By Ralph E. Stone<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

September 22, 2011<\/p>\n

On July 2009, Shane Bower, Josh Fattal, and Sarah Shourd, three American hikers, were seized near the poorly marked Iraq-Iran border. In September 2010, Shourd was released after $500,000 was paid. Bower and Fattal were convicted of illegally entering Iran and spying for the United States. We only have the word of the Iranian border guards that these hikers actually entered into Iran, and the world has yet to see the evidence supporting a spying conviction. On September 21, Bauer and Fattal were freed after $1 million was paid. Their release after cash was paid smacks of kidnapping for ransom, rather than an example of Islamic mercy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In September 2010, Shourd was released after $500,000 was paid. Bower and Fattal were convicted of illegally entering Iran and spying for the United States. We only have the word of the Iranian border guards that these hikers actually entered into Iran, and the world has yet to see the evidence supporting a spying conviction. On September 21, Bauer and Fattal were freed after $1 million was paid. Their release after cash was paid smacks of kidnapping for ransom, rather than an example of Islamic mercy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1230,"featured_media":3068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nIran Releases U.S. Hikers - Fog City Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Iran Releases U.S. Hikers - Fog City Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In September 2010, Shourd was released after $500,000 was paid. Bower and Fattal were convicted of illegally entering Iran and spying for the United States. We only have the word of the Iranian border guards that these hikers actually entered into Iran, and the world has yet to see the evidence supporting a spying conviction. On September 21, Bauer and Fattal were freed after $1 million was paid. Their release after cash was paid smacks of kidnapping for ransom, rather than an example of Islamic mercy.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fog City Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/fogcityjournal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-09-22T14:51:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/plugins\/2011\/09\/OB-PT465_0921ir_G_20110921155402.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"334\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ralph E. Stone\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@fogcityjournal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@fogcityjournal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ralph E. Stone\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ralph E. Stone\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/1086ed3f6dae12081ea244b6ef0d84c3\"},\"headline\":\"Iran Releases U.S. Hikers\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-09-22T14:51:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/\"},\"wordCount\":142,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/plugins\/2011\/09\/OB-PT465_0921ir_G_20110921155402.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Opinion\",\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/\",\"name\":\"Iran Releases U.S. Hikers - Fog City Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/plugins\/2011\/09\/OB-PT465_0921ir_G_20110921155402.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-09-22T14:51:40+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/plugins\/2011\/09\/OB-PT465_0921ir_G_20110921155402.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/plugins\/2011\/09\/OB-PT465_0921ir_G_20110921155402.jpg\",\"width\":\"500\",\"height\":\"334\",\"caption\":\"U.S. hikers Shane Bauer, right, and Josh Fattal, sat in Tehran's Mehrabad airport before leaving for Oman. (Photo courtesy Reuters)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Iran Releases U.S. Hikers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/\",\"name\":\"Fog City Journal\",\"description\":\"San Francisco Bay Area News, Arts, Culture and Politics\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Fog City Journal\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/plugins\/2019\/06\/fcj-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/plugins\/2019\/06\/fcj-logo.jpg\",\"width\":307,\"height\":102,\"caption\":\"Fog City Journal\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/fogcityjournal\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/fogcityjournal\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/fogcityjournal\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/1086ed3f6dae12081ea244b6ef0d84c3\",\"name\":\"Ralph E. Stone\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/586a0658140965ad9b5284ab55b8744b0a53fe39b31c20ff61917148642cecce?s=96&d=blank&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/586a0658140965ad9b5284ab55b8744b0a53fe39b31c20ff61917148642cecce?s=96&d=blank&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Ralph E. Stone\"},\"description\":\"I was born in Massachusetts; graduated from Middlebury College and Suffolk Law School; served as an officer in the Vietnam war; retired from the Federal Trade Commission (consumer and antitrust law); travel extensively with my wife Judi; and since retirement involved in domestic violence prevention and consumer issues.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/author\/rstone\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Iran Releases U.S. Hikers - Fog City Journal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Iran Releases U.S. Hikers - Fog City Journal","og_description":"In September 2010, Shourd was released after $500,000 was paid. Bower and Fattal were convicted of illegally entering Iran and spying for the United States. We only have the word of the Iranian border guards that these hikers actually entered into Iran, and the world has yet to see the evidence supporting a spying conviction. On September 21, Bauer and Fattal were freed after $1 million was paid. Their release after cash was paid smacks of kidnapping for ransom, rather than an example of Islamic mercy.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/","og_site_name":"Fog City Journal","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/fogcityjournal\/","article_published_time":"2011-09-22T14:51:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":500,"height":334,"url":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/plugins\/2011\/09\/OB-PT465_0921ir_G_20110921155402.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ralph E. Stone","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@fogcityjournal","twitter_site":"@fogcityjournal","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ralph E. Stone","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/"},"author":{"name":"Ralph E. Stone","@id":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/1086ed3f6dae12081ea244b6ef0d84c3"},"headline":"Iran Releases U.S. Hikers","datePublished":"2011-09-22T14:51:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/"},"wordCount":142,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/plugins\/2011\/09\/OB-PT465_0921ir_G_20110921155402.jpg","articleSection":["Opinion","Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/","url":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/","name":"Iran Releases U.S. Hikers - Fog City Journal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/plugins\/2011\/09\/OB-PT465_0921ir_G_20110921155402.jpg","datePublished":"2011-09-22T14:51:40+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/plugins\/2011\/09\/OB-PT465_0921ir_G_20110921155402.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/plugins\/2011\/09\/OB-PT465_0921ir_G_20110921155402.jpg","width":"500","height":"334","caption":"U.S. hikers Shane Bauer, right, and Josh Fattal, sat in Tehran's Mehrabad airport before leaving for Oman. (Photo courtesy Reuters)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/3067\/iran-releases-u-s-hikers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Iran Releases U.S. Hikers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/","name":"Fog City Journal","description":"San Francisco Bay Area News, Arts, Culture and Politics","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/#organization","name":"Fog City Journal","url":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/plugins\/2019\/06\/fcj-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/plugins\/2019\/06\/fcj-logo.jpg","width":307,"height":102,"caption":"Fog City Journal"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/fogcityjournal\/","https:\/\/x.com\/fogcityjournal","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/fogcityjournal"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/1086ed3f6dae12081ea244b6ef0d84c3","name":"Ralph E. Stone","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/586a0658140965ad9b5284ab55b8744b0a53fe39b31c20ff61917148642cecce?s=96&d=blank&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/586a0658140965ad9b5284ab55b8744b0a53fe39b31c20ff61917148642cecce?s=96&d=blank&r=pg","caption":"Ralph E. Stone"},"description":"I was born in Massachusetts; graduated from Middlebury College and Suffolk Law School; served as an officer in the Vietnam war; retired from the Federal Trade Commission (consumer and antitrust law); travel extensively with my wife Judi; and since retirement involved in domestic violence prevention and consumer issues.","url":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/author\/rstone\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}