Sarah Shourd, her boyfriend at the time and one of their good friends were hiking in Iraq in July 2009 when they were arrested by Iranian officials who said they had crossed the border. Accused of espionage, the three spent 410 days together in a Tehran prison before Sarah was freed on humanitarian grounds. Sarah's boyfriend, Shane, proposed to her while they were in prison and him and his friend still remain imprisoned in Iran.
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| Sarah and Shane. Photo courtesy of news.com.au. |
Sarah and Shane lived in Demascus for a year teaching English to refugees and practicing journalism, respectively. Both, truly believed in the possibility of creating a bridge between the two cultures through their humanitarian efforts. Their time spent there was an effort to embrace the Middle Eastern/Muslim culture and share it with it with those who were interested, which eventually led to their friend's visit in July.
Many people believe that Sarah and her friends were merely improsined due to political tensions between the two countries. In fact, two witnesses claim that the hikers were not in Iran territory at all but were in fact kidnapped from Iraq. The U.S. has no current diplomatic relations with Iran and has resorted to communicating with Iranian officials through Sweden.
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| Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal and Sarah Shourd. Photo courtesy of http://www.whatsonxiamen.com/. |
Sarah has become an advocate for improving relations between the two nations so that nothing like this will ever happen again. She stated, "I don't believe that the animosity between Iran and the United States is an insuperable obstacle; it's the responsibility of all governments to engage diplomatically, regardless of their differences, and when they can't or don't, it is their people who suffer the most."
I agree with Sarah and I believe that maintaining an open dialogue with anyone, whether it be between governments, family members, friends, spouses, etc., keeps peace at the forefront of a relationship. What do you think?
