FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2010
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The World A15 Iran says itwill free one of threeU.S. hikers accused of spying
BY THOMAS ERDBRINK AND GLENN KESSLER
tehran — One of the three American hikers jailed in Iran for more than a year on spying charges will be released Satur- day, at the end of theMuslimholy month of Ramadan, Iranian au- thorities said Thursday. Reporters were told by an
official with the Ministry of Cul- ture and Islamic Guidance to gather at a northern Tehran hotel on Saturday for the release. An Iranian envoy to theUnited
Nations later confirmed to the Associated Press that the hiker to be released is Sarah Shourd, the only woman among the three. The hikers’ lawyer, Masoud
Shafii, said it was widely expect- ed that Shourd would be the person set free. Atextmessage fromtheminis-
try read: “With the best wishes for Eid al-Fitr, the release of one of the arrested Americans, on Saturday, 9 a.m.” Eid is the holi- day marking the end of Rama- dan. Shourd, 32, has been held
alone in a cell and is said to have been ill and depressed. She is engaged to Shane Bauer, 28, who with the other member of their group, Joshua Fattal, 28, is in another cell. By keeping the two men in
Tehran, Iranian authorities are indicating that the case is not over. On Sunday, the minister of intelligence, Heydar Moslehi, said investigations were ongo- ing. Shafii, the hikers’ lawyer, said:
“In my opinion, legally they can only be charged with illegal en- try.” A U.S. State Department spokesman said the release
would be welcome, if it happens. “We do not know what the Irani- ans are contemplating,” said spokesman P.J. Crowley. “The release of the hikers is long overdue. It will be welcome news if they are released.” The hikers’ parents said on
their Facebook page: “We have seen the news reports and are urgently seeking further infor- mation. We hope and pray that the reports are true and that this signals the end of all three of our children’s long and difficult de- tention.” Shourd’smother, Nora Shourd
of Oakland, Calif., said her daughter called her on Aug. 2 and, in a brief conversation, said she had discovered a lump in one of her breasts. Shourd told theAP that she had asked the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture to intervene with Iranian authori- ties to end her daughter’s solitary confinement. “Sarah told me she is still being held alone in her cell and had not had anymoremedi- cal tests,” she said. The threeAmericanswere hik-
ing in the mountains of Iraq’s northern Kurdish region on July 31, 2009, when, according to their families, they strayed across the border accidentally. Authorities in Tehran confirmed three days later that the three had been arrested, and an Irani- an Arabic-language television network quoted police sources as saying they were “CIA agents.” Bauer and Shourd were free-
lance journalists who were living together in Damascus, Syria, where Shourd also taught Eng- lish and was studying Arabic, friends and relatives said. Fattal is a friend of Bauer’s who was visiting the Middle East to ex- plore his father’s roots in Iraq, friends said. All three graduated
Obama, Clinton split on drugwar parallels
show rare disagreement
BY ANNE E. KORNBLUT AND SCOTTWILSON
Secretary of State Hillary Rod-
ham Clinton sees similarities be- tween the drug violence now af- flicting Mexico and Colombia’s narco-war of the 1980s. President Obama, not so much. “You can’t compare what is happening in Mexico with what happened in Colombia,” Obama told a Spanish-language newspa- per in remarks published on its Web site on Thursday. Obama’s remarks in La Opin-
ion appeared at odds with Clin- ton’s comments a day earlier that the situation in Mexico is “look- ing more and more like Colombia looked 20 years ago,” with drug traffickers controlling “parts of the country.” “InColombia, itgot to the point
where. . . more than a third of the country — nearly 40 percent of the country at one time or anoth- er—was controlled by the insur- gents, by FARC,” Clinton said, referring to the Colombian revo- lutionary group. The two sets of comments
seemed to reflect a rare disagree- ment between Obama and Clin- ton, former political rivals who have gone to great lengths to emphasize their unity and grow- ing friendship over the past year and a half. But the administration denied
that there was any daylight be- tween the president and his sec- retary of state. Asked whether Obama’s inter-
viewcontradicted Clinton’s, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley replied, “Not at all.” “These are two different coun-
tries and different circumstances. The Secretary completely agrees,” Crowley said in an e-mail. “What she was saying is that, first, crimi- nal organizations are challenging authority in Mexico as we saw in Colombia. The growing brutality is beginning to resemble what Colombia experienced. Colombia turned its situation around through decisive action by a dem- ocratic government, supported by the United States and the international community.We are seeing the same sustained action by the Mexican government. As she said also, this is a shared responsibility and we and others need to support Mexico in this effort.”
Obama, in the interview, said
the reason the two countries can- not be compared is the gap be- tween their economies. “Mexico is a large and progres-
sive democracy with a growing economy,” Obama said.
Comments on situation in Mexico, Colombia
But in fact, two decades ago in Colombia, the elected president, Cesar Gaviria, pushed through a series of economic reforms known as “the opening,” which, despite drug-related violence, led to years of economic growth. With U.S. assistance, Gaviria’s government tracked down and killed Pablo Escobar, the head of theMedellin cartel, in 1993. Clinton’s comments made the
front pages of Mexico’s national daily newspapers and were fod- der for cable news and talk radio on Wednesday and Thursday morning. Obama’s remarks went up on
news Web sites and television news Thursday afternoon. The stories reported that
Obama “rejected” or “corrected” Clinton’s statements. “Obama: You cannot compare Mexico to Colombia” was the headline on the ElUniversal newsWeb site. Clinton’s remarks were contro-
versial in Mexico. President Fe- lipe Calderon administration’s central mission is to not become like Colombia was 20 years ago, whencarbombsexploded daily in the national capital and driving into the countryside was risky. Responding to Clinton on
Wednesday, Calderon’s national security adviser Alejandro Poire said, “We do not share these findings, as there is a big differ- ence between what Colombia
“You can’t compare what is happening in Mexico with what happened in Colombia” —President Obama
faced and what Mexico is facing today.” Poire also took a dig at the
United States, saying that the only thing the two conflicts have in common is that the drug car- tels in both countries are “nour- ished by the enormous, gigantic demand for drugs in the United States.” SomeMexican leaders, howev-
er, agreed with Clinton’s assess- ment. Many anti-narcotics ex- perts and law enforcement agents, along with Mexican jour- nalists, frequently debate the comparisons between Mexico’s drug war and the one waged in Colombia. “We areonourway to Colombi-
anization,” said Mexican senator Alejandro Gonzalez, who belongs to Calderon’s center-right party.
kornbluta@washpost.com wilsons@washpost.com
CorrespondentWilliam Booth in Mexico City contributed to this report.
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from the University of California at Berkeley. Theirmothers traveled to Teh-
ran to visit theminMay. The United States has ap-
proached several countries to intervene as third parties in the case, diplomats in Tehran said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity. A senior diplomat represent- ing a Muslim nation suggested
that U.S. officials expected that Iran would release one of the hikers following the July return of nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri to Iran. A senior State Department of-
ficial, also speaking on the condi- tion of anonymity, said that “we have communicated with Iran both directly and through third countries” to seek the release of the hikers but that no secret talks led to this point. He denied any
connection between the depar- ture of Amiri and the pending release of a hiker. “We want all the hikers released,” he said. Amiri played a central role in a
Cold War-like spy drama that reached a climax in July when the scientist arrived at the Irani- an Interests Section at the Paki- staniEmbassy inWashington.He had posted a series of conflicting videos online, some saying he had been kidnapped and others
saying he was studying in the United States. U.S. officials dis- puted Amiri’s account, saying that he defected voluntarily and provided valuable intelligence about Iran’s nuclear programbe- fore increased worries about his family prompted him to seek a return.
erdbrinkt@washpost.com kesslerg@washpost.com
Kessler reported fromWashington.
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