President Barack Obama on Friday called on Iran to immediately release three Americans who were detained a year ago after straying across the border while hiking in the mountains of northern Iraq. Obama, in a statement marking the Americans' 12 months in captivity, said Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd, and Josh Fattal had committed no crimes and their continued imprisonment violated international human rights conventions.
"Their unjust detention has nothing to do with the issues that continue to divide the United States and the international community from the Iranian government," Obama said. The United States and its allies are involved in a stand-off with Iran over its uranium enrichment program, which they fear is a cover to build a nuclear weapon. Tehran insists it is for the peaceful generation of electricity.
"I want to be perfectly clear: Sarah, Shane and Josh have never worked for the United States government. They are simply open-minded and adventurous young people who represent the best of America, and of the human spirit," Obama said.
The mothers of the three detainees visited their children in May. They said they were being treated well but had had no access to a lawyer and had not been told what would happen to them. Obama also said he had spoken this week with the wife of Robert Levinson, an ex-FBI agent who disappeared in March 2007 during a business trip to Iran's Kish Island. "We continue to have no information about his welfare, and reiterate our call for the government of Iran to provide any information that it has about his whereabouts," he said.
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