Hiker Sarah Shourd criticizes Iranian policies

SF Gate -- Sarah Shourd, one of three UC Berkeley graduates that were detained in Iran, spoke out Monday against the Iranian government as well as American policies that she said kept her and the two other hikers in prison for months.

When Shourd was released in September 2010 after more than a year in prison, she thanked Iran’s president and Ayatolla Khomeini for her “compassionate release from detention,” expressing gratitude because she feared for the fate of the two other hikers, who were still imprisoned, she wrote in The Daily Beast. The two hikers, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, were released in September.

In her article and in light of Fattal and Bauer’s release, she revised her thanks to Iran.

“Perhaps it wasn’t dishonest of me to thank the Iranian government 16 months ago, but now I can be more specific,” she wrote. “Thank you for using us to further deepen your own crisis of legitimacy around the world and with your own people. Thank you for laying bare your total disregard for justice, fairness, and human liberty.”

Shourd criticized the current Iranian regime and said she had received a wave of support from Iranians around the globe who understood her situation and apologized for their government’s actions.

“Iranians understand what we went through better than anyone else,” she wrote. “Their government is rapidly devolving into a neo-totalitarian regime that uses random arrests, assassinations, show trials, and executions to manipulate, silence dissent, and set an example.”

American officials could have done more to prevent or lessen the hikers’ protracted detainment, she also said. Shourd cited HR 1905, the Iran Reduction Act, a bill that she said would prevent low-level discussions between Iran and the Washington, “the only type that has proven effective.” She also criticized broad sanctions against the country that hurt Iranian citizens.

“In the absence of diplomacy, the slow march toward military conflict with Iran continues unabated,” Shourd wrote.