Potential Prisoner Swap with Iran

Three American freelance journalists, Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Joshua Fattal, are being held in Iran for illegally crossing the border and for allegedly being spies. They have been in detention since July 31, 2009 and on February 2nd, 2010 Iranian president Ahmadinejad proposed a prisoner exchange.

The three entered Iraq on July 28th, 2009 and travelled to an Iraqi tourist resort, Ahmad Awa, that is on the border with Iran. While they were hiking near Halabja, part of Iraqi Kurdistan, they crossed the border into Iran. The border between Kurdish Iraq and Iran is said to be unclear. (1)

They said they made “a simple and regrettable mistake” when they crossed the border, according to their friend Shon Meckfessel who spoke with Bauer that morning. They also did not know they were that near the border, stated Meckfessel. (2)

The Iranian government, however, accuses them of disregarding warnings from guards and originally held them for illegally crossing the border. (3)

In November 2009, three months after their detention, it was publicly announced by Tehran's prosecutor general, Abbas Ja'afari Dolatabadi, that they would be charged with espionage. "We believe strongly that there is no evidence to support any charge whatsoever," stated U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. (4)

Since the U.S. does not have diplomatic relations with Iran, Swiss diplomats served as a mediator and met with the Americans to call for their release. The three were last seen by Swiss diplomats on October 29th, 2009. They seemed to be nervous and scared, but otherwise were in good physical and psychological health, a senior State Department official told CNN. (5)

They still have not been tried in court. Iran's foreign minister never stated when a trial would begin and never stated exactly what they would be charged with other than that their intentions were “suspicious.” In January, their families hired an Iranian attorney to rush the case because they feel that the alleged charges are “ludicrous.” (6)

On February 2nd, Ahmadinejad stated in an interview with state TV that there were negotiations about exchanging the hikers for 11 Iranians being held in the United States. "I had said I would help in releasing them, but the attitude of some of U.S. officials damages the job," said Ahmadinejad. "There are a large number of Iranians in prison in the U.S. They have abducted some of our citizens in other countries." (7)

The negotiations did not start and it is not guaranteed that the prisoner exchange will go through.

"There are no negotiations taking place between the United States and Iran. We believe they should unilaterally release our detained citizens," said Clinton after meeting with Bahrain's foreign minister. (8)

A reason against the swap, according to State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley, is that there is not an “equivalence between the hikers and Iranians that had left Iran.” (9)

The three Americans crossed an unspecified border while the Iranian citizens that are in the held in the U.S. “have been indicted and/or convicted of arms trafficking in violation of international law,” said Crowley. (10)

Going through with a prisoner swap would release three Americans, but the flipside of the coin is that it would also release 11 Iranians who are suspected of or have been found to play a role in assisting Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Only three of the eleven have been tried. (11)

For those who want to press the release of the three Americans, with or without a prisoner swap, there is a petition they can sign. Freethehikers.org has more information about the Americans and the petition.

Articles:

¹ BBC News Online, “US concern as Iran holds Tourists.” 1 August 2009: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8180081.stm

² CNN Online, “Iran to charge 3 American hikers with espionage, says prosecutor.” 9 November 2009: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/11/09/iran.hikers/index.html

³ “US concern as Iran holds Tourists.”

⁴ “Iran to charge 3 American hikers with espionage, says prosecutor”

⁵ “Iran to charge 3 American hikers with espionage, says prosecutor”

⁶ Karimi, Nasser. “Ahmadinejad proposes prisoner swap for US hikers.” Yahoo! News, 2 February 2010: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100202/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_us_hikers

⁷ Karimi

⁸ BBC News Online, “Hilary Clinton rejects US-Iran prisoner swap proposal.” 3 February 2010: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8497363.stm

⁹ Karimi

¹⁰ “Hilary Clinton rejects US-Iran prisoner swap proposal”

¹¹ Karimi

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The Freedom Exchange Project

CSI has just launched its most recent negotiation effort called The Freedom Exchange Project. The goal of this project is for both the U.S. and Cuban governments to release political prisoners. For more information about the project and to sign the petition, visit: Freedom Exchange Project.

A prisoner exchange is an agreement between two opposing sides to release prisoners. These prisoners include political prisoners, spies, hostages and even dead bodies. “I’m very much encouraged by the exchange of prisoners,” said UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon when Israel and Hezbollah swapped prisoners in 2008 (UN News Centre). “I hope this will be the beginning of many to come in the future,” he added.

Prisoner exchanges are a contemporary innovation, according to Derek Brown. In ancient times, he added, captured enemies were slaughtered rather than kept hostage and fed (Guardian). During the Hundred Years’ War, for instance, it was only necessary for the French to incapacitate the English bowmen they captured by cutting off their index and middle fingers and then releasing them.This prompted the untouched Englishmen to tauntingly wave their still-remaining middle fingers, giving birth to the infamous gesture (Guardian).

As civilization became more sophisticated, so did the tactics used in war. It became the norm to capture and hold prisoners alive by the time of the Napoleonic wars.Using captives as a means to achieve an end was a practice honed during the American Civil war. A value was assigned to captured soldiers based on their rank. A captured general, for example, would be released in exchange for 46 privates (Guardian).

Capturing prisoners and keeping them alive, rather than killing them, became a way for one side to have leverage over another. The Cold War, to use a more recent example, did not have soldiers to capture, but it did have spies. In 1960, Gary Powers, a US Pilot whose plane was shot down, was found guilty of espionage and crimes against the Soviet people. He was sentenced to ten years imprisonment in the Soviet Union (Military). He was released two years later in one of the most famous spy swaps, negotiated by Wolfgang Vogel, when he was exchanged for the KGB spy Rudolf Abel.

Up until the Cold War ended, the people being captured were soldiers or spies directly involved with the war being fought. With the types of warfare changing, so are the types of people being captured and exchanged. Civilians, such as politician’s family members, journalists, and political dissidents, are being held because of ethnic conflicts, terrorist groups and political oppression.

Israel, for example, engaged in swaps with her neighbors and groups such as Hezbollah. In 2004, an Israeli businessman and the remains of three Jewish soldiers were transferred for over 400 Arab prisoners, 59 remains of Lebanese, a spy, and maps of landmines. Israel has a policy of saving every possible life, so many of the deals brokered have had an uneven number of prisoners exchanged (Guardian).

Another type of prisoner exchange that developed is a Humanitarian exchange. This type of exchange is used in Colombia to describe a swap between hostages held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC for its initials in Spanish) and imprisoned guerillas. FARC has kidnapped thousands of people, ranging from ordinary civilians to high-profile politicians such as Ingrid Betancourt, to put raise funds and also to put pressure on the Colombian government to create a demilitarized zone and release guerillas (BBC).“I see no possible solution to the conflict other than negotiation,” said former politician Alan Jara after he was released from captivity (IPS).

From the ongoing political prisoners held in Cuba to the recent holding of Newsweek journalist Maziar Bahari in Iran, it is clear that people, and more frequently civilians with information or dissident ideas, will be continued to be detained. Exchanging prisoners is a model that worked in the past.

“I was neither a resistance fighter nor a good Samaritan,” said Wolfgang Vogel, the late overseer of many Cold War swaps. “My ways were not white or black. They had to be grey — otherwise it would not have worked,” he added (Times). Conflicts can be ended and civilians can be released with prisoner exchanges, if both sides are willing to negotiate.

Articles:

Brown, Derek. “Prisoners of Fortune.” The Guardian Online, 2 February 2004: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/feb/02/comment.derekbrown

Sullivan, Michael. “Francis Gary Powers: One Man, Two Countries and One Cold War.” Military.com: http://www.military.com/Content/MoreContent1/?file=cw_fgpowers

Viera, Constanza. “COLOMBIA: Freed Hostage Calls for Peace.” IPS News Agency, 4 February 2009: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45677

UN News Centre, “Ban Encouraged by Prisoner Exchange between Israel and Hizbollah.” 16 July 2008: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=27386&Cr=Leban&Cr1

Times Online, “Wolfgang Vogel:East German Lawyer,” 27 August 2008: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article4613780.ece

BBC News Online, “Q&A: Colombia Hostage Situation,” 3 July 2008: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7161276.stm

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