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The mothers of three American hikers held for 10
months in Iran know that their visit with their children may be
brief so they've thought about what they want to say and do.


      Cindy Hickey wants to make sure her son and the two friends
imprisoned with him see that there's a future in which they're free
- a light at the end of the tunnel.


      "We want to see our kids and let them know: We're going to do
everything we possibly can. ... This will be done," Hickey said
Sunday after arriving in New York. The trio expect to fly to Iran
within days.


      Hickey's son, 27-year-old Shane Bauer, his girlfriend, Sarah
Shourd, and their friend Josh Fattal were arrested along the Iraqi
border last July and accused by Iran of spying. Relatives say the
three were on vacation in the scenic Kurdistan region of northern
Iraq and, if they crossed the border, it was by accident.


      Now that she and the other mothers have been granted visas to
Iran and believe they'll be able to visit their children, Laura
Fattal is intent on using whatever time she gets with her son to
listen.

      The suburban Philadelphia woman wants to hear about her
27-year-old son's day-to-day existence and how the trio has gotten
by. They've been permitted so few visits from the outside - only
three by the Swiss diplomats charged with visiting them in prison
since the U.S. has no official presence in Iran, she says. She
wants to give them the chance to be heard.

      Nora Shourd wants to squeeze her daughter extra tight. Not just
for a hug - although there's that too. She wants to feel through
the loose covering she expects 31-year-old Sarah will be wearing to
make sure she's not just skin and bones.


      And the mothers want to give them letters and photographs that
they hope their children will be allowed to keep with them -
tangible pieces of home. 


For Sarah, who her family says is kept
alone in a cell for all but about 30 minutes a day, her mother has
brought pens and empty books, in the hopes she'll be able to write.
There are photos of Sarah's sister's wedding, which she missed.


      Bauer's youngest sister, Shannon, made a tiny booklet for her
brother that folds out into a large photo spread covered in
messages.


      "We think about you every day," one note reads. "I always try
to keep you with me on nice days so you can feel the sun."


      Nora Shourd worries especially about the effect that
near-solitary confinement may be having on her always social
daughter. With no one to talk to, Sarah had become seriously
depressed, Nora Shourd says she was told by the Swiss diplomats who
visited the trio in April. The diplomats also reported that Sarah
was suffering a serious gynecological condition, while Bauer had a
stomach ailment.


      "These kids haven't had the simple basic stuff that they get
from their mothers for a long time now," said Shourd. "We want to
give them as much of that as we can in our visits. I don't know how
we can do that other than to give them the hope that they'll walk
out that door."


      The mothers, too, have given up much. Hickey has indefinitely
closed the business she's owned for years. Nora Shourd has taken a
leave of absence from work, sublet her Oakland, Calif., home and
moved in with Hickey in rural Pine City, Minn. She's postponed
having necessary surgery while dealing with the crisis, she says,
although she doesn't want to give any details.
      

Sitting now in a hotel room in Manhattan, the first step of
their journey to Iran over, Laura Fattal shares what she calls
"such a good day dream" with the other two women. She pictures
standing all of them in a group hug with their kids, and then being
able to bring them home.

      It's a vision that seems so close to all of them. They say
they're convinced they may be able to leave Iran accompanied by
their children, who have not been brought to trial or publicly
charged with a crime.


      Hickey knows there's another possibility. But it's one she says
she tries not to think about because it's so overwhelming.


      "Going to see them, and coming home without them, and knowing
they have to stay in those same conditions would be overwhelming,"
she says.
      

Gallery

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Politics and Government News

The mothers of three American hikers held in
Iran for almost a year have started their journey to visit them in prison and say they're thrilled to be on the verge of being reunited. They're together in New York, waiting to travel to Iran to see their children.

Moms of 3 US hikers arrive in NY before Iran trip

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