Info tour - US anti-war activists imprisoned in Iran

bristol | peace | press release Monday July 12, 2010 00:02 by solidarity

Short notice event - this Wednesday

At short notice a number of individuals from various Bristol networks have pulled together to host this event about the strange arrest of US anti-war and justice activists arrested on the Iraq/Iran border. Come and find out about this tricky situation...

Info tour about US anti-war activists imprisoned in Iran

On July 31, 2009, Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer, and Josh Fattal - were arrested at the border of Iran. After nearly a year, they are still being held without charges, without a single visit from their lawyer, under allegations of espionage. The families still have no idea when they might be released.

A fourth member of the group, Shon Meckfessel narrowly avoided imprisonment himself and is kicking off a thirty city European tour in Bristol to publisise their situation and to call for their release. Shon will be speaking about the three activists, their work and their current situation at 7.30pm, Wednesday 14th July, at Kebele Social Centre, Robertson Rd, Easton, Bristol BS5 6JY.

This is his statement:
The American media has given extensive coverage to the situation of my friends, but has often done so superficially, particularly omitting aspects of their life work as anti-war activists.

Their situation is not the most important in the world, but the issues on which they've been working may well be. To give just some examples from the time of their arrest, Shane, an accomplished journalist, had just exposed US-trained death squads in Iraq in a cover story for The Nation magazine. Sarah was teaching Iraqi refugees, and was finishing an article on women's struggles in Syria. Josh was doing social justice and sustainability education for international students in China, South Africa, and India before he arrived. The four of us were living together in a Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus, where we were deeply involved in the community.

On my tour throughout Europe this summer, I would like to share some of their projects, in some sense continuing their work until they're able to. I will be showing an amazing film (lasting 35 minutes), just released, which Shane and another friend made in Darfur, living and traveling with the Sudanese Liberation Army. I would also like to show clips from their other films, read from their journalism and writing, and present some of their stunning photography. I would also like some of these events to serve as a forum for discussion of the issues on which the three have focused their whole lives - peace/conflict, Israel/Palestine and Iraq, women's struggles, post-colonial challenges and first-world poverty. And I hope that by drawing attention to who my friends really are - certainly not spies! - we might finally help their situation. The United States government hasn't been able to free them, but maybe we can.

Info tour poster 1.09 Mb