Iran Interview: Detained US Hiker's Mother "I Wish I Could Hear Her Voice""

In Rah-e-Sabz, Masih Alinejad interviews Nora Shourd, whose daughter Sarah was one of three US citizens detained by Iranian authorities last summer when they allegedly hiked across the Iraq-Iran border. Translation by Farzaneh Abdavinejad:

Q- Mrs. Shourd, who told you about Sarah and her friends' arrest, and how did you feel when you heard that Iran had arrested your daughter?

A- I went for a walk next to Oakland River [in California] when I heard the news. I was too shocked to understand what I needed to do at that moment. When I heard she was arrested in Iran, the only thing I could think about, was to go to the first travel agency and get a ticket to Iran. I had to go and rescue my child. Each mother knows how shocking this news can be, especially when another country is keeping your child under arrest.

I had a terrible day that I will never forget. The only thought I had on my mind, was going to Iran, yet it was not possible. I was worried.

Q- In Iran they usually do not tell the families where the prisoner is kept and what the charge is. When did you understand what Sarah and her friends' charge was and where they were being kept?

A- After we called everywhere, we realised that they were kept in Tehran, yet it was not really clear what crime they had committed. When we met the children in Tehran, Shane [Bauer], who is Sarah's boyfriend and my future son-inlaw, told us that when the Iranians arrested them, they were not in Iranian territory at all.

Q- Before I ask you about your trip to Iran, would you please describe your feelings before you were allowed to go and meet your daughter?

A- I thought it would be natural that they would allow me at least to speak to my daughter, but they did not for ten months. After ten months I had a very short phone conversation with Sara. That was tough, so tough. I had decided to write to her everyday, I mean there was not even one day when I did not write to her.

Q- But the prisoners in Iran are not permitted access to the internet.

A- That is why I sent all the e-mails to the Swiss Embassy in Tehran and asked them to send my letters to my daughter.

Q- Can I ask you what you wrote about to your daughter, and if they ever gave her your letters?

A- Out of 351 letters I had written, only 60 of them were given to her. I, as a mother, wrote to her about anything that happened to me. I wrote to her so many times that people and her friends had not forgotten her. I even wrote that many of the Iranians we met in the US showed their sympathy and sadness about our daughter's imprisonment.

I was so bored of writing the "You will be free soon" sentence. I was really tired of saying that "soon" word, and I gradually tried to write to my daughter about daily matters. I told her that every time when I go to take a walk next to the river, my mind is full of her memories. That was her right to know that her mother had not forgotten her, all the time she was being kept in a cell.

Q- Was she ever able to reply to any of your letters?

A- Sarah told she replied to my letters, but nobody sent them to me. Then the other children [fellow detainees Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal] also told me that they write a lot to their families, but we just got nothing.

Q- Now, if you wish to tell us about your trip in last April to Iran, I would like to ask you how it developed and if you got the chance to meet any of the Iranian authorities?

A- All of the visits were organised by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, and we did want to meet Mr. Ahmadinejad and Mr. Larijani, the head of the judiciary in Iran, but they did not give us this opportunity. The only ones we were allowed to meet, were two of the interrogators.

Q- Why did you want to meet Ahmadinejad?

A- I think he is the only one who has the power to release our children at the moment. Ahmadinejad had said that he would give the greatest possible mitigation for our children. Mr. Ahmadinejad surely has children and he definitely knows how we are suffering. He had promised that our children would have the Islamic mercy in the Islamic Republic of Iran's prisons, but it has been a year and we have not seen any mercy yet.

Q- You mentioned that everything for your trip was organised by the Iranian foreign ministry. Did you get to see [Foreign Minister] Mottaki who had described the American hikers' situation as a very good one?

A- Both Mr. Mottaki and Mr. Larjani told us that our children's condition is very good in prison, but the reality is something else that what they claimed. After all, we did not succeed in telling them in person how our children's situation was different....I mean since they were arrested, not even one of them has been interrogated and they have had no trials.

Q- During all this year that your daughter is in solitary confinement, have you followed her case, asking her lawyer?

A- Yes, we asked Mr. Shafiee, the lawyer that is chosen by Iranian authorities, but we never got any responses. My daughter has begged them to let her have at least one cellmate in order not to feel so lonely. It is very difficult to be in a cell for one year and, depending on [the reading of the] Convention of Human Rights, solitary confinement can be torture. The only excuse they give is that nobody knows how to speak in English, so they can not be Sarah's companions, but everybody knows that there are many Iranian students in prison at the moment who are able to speak in English. My daughter, told them that if they let her out of the cell, it would be possible to talk to the others using body language and gestures.