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Iran sentences 2 American men to 8 years in jail (Berkeley Peace Studies Graduates)
http://www.startribune.com/local/128119833.html ^

Posted on 08/20/2011 7:09:54 AM PDT by macquire

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's state TV is reporting that two American men already held for two years in Tehran have been sentenced to 8 years in jail each on charges of espionage and illegal entry.

Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal have been held since July 2009 after being taken into custody on the Iran-Iraq border.

The station's website says Bauer and Fattal, who are both 28, have been sentenced to three years each for illegal entry into Iran and five years each for spying for the United States. It's not clear if that includes time served.

They have 20 days to appeal the sentence.

(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: sourcetitlenoturl; wanker
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I guess all those Peace Study classes didn't do them any good when they encountered their first hard line thug in the world...
1 posted on 08/20/2011 7:09:57 AM PDT by macquire
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To: macquire

Iran should keep them.


2 posted on 08/20/2011 7:15:02 AM PDT by DIRTYSECRET
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To: macquire

Does anyone know what “Peace Studies” qualifies you for after graduation?


3 posted on 08/20/2011 7:15:44 AM PDT by ilovesarah2012
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To: ilovesarah2012

A job with the Obama administration.


4 posted on 08/20/2011 7:17:13 AM PDT by macquire
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To: macquire
They have 20 days to appeal the sentence.

Translation: 20 days to come up with enough money to buy a reduced sentence or freedom.

5 posted on 08/20/2011 7:17:18 AM PDT by Starboard
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To: macquire
They should have taken a geography class instead of "peace studies."

Then they might have known where the Iranian border was...

6 posted on 08/20/2011 7:17:26 AM PDT by Flycatcher (God speaks to us, through the supernal lightness of birds, in a special type of poetry.)
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To: macquire

I dunno. You gotta be some kind of stupid or up to something fishy to be “hiking” on the Iraq-Iran border in the middle of a big war. If they were simply guilty of being stupid, Iran won’t suffer those sorts of fools gladly. At least they let the woman go. She’s got a long wait if she was serious about one of them.


7 posted on 08/20/2011 7:19:10 AM PDT by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: ilovesarah2012
"Does anyone know what “Peace Studies” qualifies you for after graduation?"

Hiking mostly. Along war zones. And inclusion in the "Cindy Sheehan Useful Idiots Hall of Fame."
You can also qualify for the "Hanoi Jane Graduate Studies Program" - leads to a career at NPR.
8 posted on 08/20/2011 7:20:08 AM PDT by frankenMonkey (By God, we will not squander what has been given us!)
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To: macquire
It looks like political idealism has given them a taste of reality. ... another Rachel Corrie type story.

Shane Bauer, who grew up both in Onamia, Minnesota and San Leandro, California, is a freelance photojournalist and journalist who has worked for Pacifica News Service, Mother Jones, The Nation and other left-leaning media outlets, using his fluency in speaking Arabic.

Sarah Emily Shourd, who grew up in Los Angeles, California, worked in education and social justice in Damascus where she provided educational opportunities to refugees from the war in Iraq and taught English. Shourd was released by Iran on September 14, 2010 on $500,000 bail. Shourd's bail does not require that she remain in Iran, and her case will still go to trial along with Bauer and Fattal. Shourd's mother has said she had been denied treatment for serious health problems, including a breast lump and precancerous cervical cells. In May 2011, Shourd announced that she would not return to Iran for trial, citing acute ill-health.

Joshua "Josh" Fattal, who grew up in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, an environmentalist and educator, had been from January to May 2009 a teaching fellow for the International Honors Program (IHP)'s "Health and Community" study abroad program. Prior to traveling with the IHP, Fattal lived and worked at Aprovecho in Oregon, USA, exploring and promoting sustainable living practices.

At least, as we say, "they were doing what they love."

9 posted on 08/20/2011 7:20:12 AM PDT by Baynative (If the government was in charge of the desert , we'd soon have a shortage of sand.)
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To: ilovesarah2012
Does anyone know what “Peace Studies” qualifies you for after graduation?

A dubious "scholar in residence" gig in an Iranian prison. That one we know!

10 posted on 08/20/2011 7:23:54 AM PDT by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: macquire

Somebody needs to send them a DVD of “Midnight Express”. I know that was Turkey, but Iran can’t be any better.


11 posted on 08/20/2011 7:25:33 AM PDT by Lockbar (March toward the sound of the guns.)
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To: macquire

Welcome to the Real World, boys. Turns out America’s not the worst place to get arrested after all, eh?


12 posted on 08/20/2011 7:26:57 AM PDT by A_perfect_lady (Islam is as Islam does.)
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To: Baynative

I’ve never heard a claim that these three are Jewish. If they are then that would have been part of why the Iranians freaked out so much.


13 posted on 08/20/2011 7:27:03 AM PDT by RadiationRomeo (Step into my mind and glimpse the madness that is me)
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To: Baynative

I have never believed they were just “hiking”. Liberals are just flat-out dumb and they do dumb things. No sympathy here.


14 posted on 08/20/2011 7:27:31 AM PDT by ilovesarah2012
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To: ilovesarah2012

It qualifies you for making Bush-is-bad proclamations with more sanctimony than most others.


15 posted on 08/20/2011 7:27:59 AM PDT by definitelynotaliberal (Palin Power 2012)
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To: macquire

i doubt that liberal-progressives of their pedigree would spy for the u.s.

i could be wrong.


16 posted on 08/20/2011 7:34:10 AM PDT by ken21 (ruling class dem + rino progressives -- destroying america for 150 years.)
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To: BradyLS
I read a profile about these two and the woman they were with, and it turns out that they are your typical America-hating Berkley activists who had left the country to live in Damascus so that they could "engage the world."

They got more than they bargained for.

17 posted on 08/20/2011 7:34:52 AM PDT by Virginia Ridgerunner (Sarah Palin has crossed the Rubicon!)
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To: ilovesarah2012

Does anyone know what “Peace Studies” qualifies you for after graduation?

Yes!
They’re doing it.......


18 posted on 08/20/2011 7:35:24 AM PDT by G Larry (I dream of a day when a man is judged by the content of his character)
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To: ilovesarah2012
Does anyone know what “Peace Studies” qualifies you for after graduation?

Making Farsi license plates?

19 posted on 08/20/2011 7:35:35 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (Somewhere in Kenya a village is missing its idiot)
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To: Baynative
It looks like political idealism has given them a taste of reality. ... another Rachel Corrie type story.

Very true. At least they've lived to learn from their mistakes. I wonder how much Sarah's decision not to return to Iran played into their decision to keep her two "friends." I don't blame her decision to stay put to avoid a probable stint in prison. But I wonder if, had she gone back to face the music with her colleagues, there was a fair possibility of release for all three or a sentence of time-served.

20 posted on 08/20/2011 7:36:20 AM PDT by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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