Three Americans

Imprisoned in Iran
SHANE BAUER, JOSHUA FATTAL & SARAH SHOURD
THREE AMERICANS CAPTURED BY IRANIAN
FORCES AND HELD IN CAPTIVITY FOR TWO
YEARS TELL THEIR STORY.
I
, ,
Joshua Fattal, and Sarah Shourd were hik-
ing in I raqi Kurdistan when they unknow-
ingly crossed into Iran and were captured by
a b order p atrol. A ccused o f e spionage, t he
three Americans ultimately found themselves
in Tehrans infamous Evin Prison, where they
discovered that pooling their strength of will
and relying on one another were the only ways
they could survive.
In t his poignant, inspiring memoir, the
hikers nally tell their side of the story. Tey
recount t he d eception t hat l ured t hem in to
Iran in the rst place and describe the psycho-
logical t orment of interrogation and s olitary
connement. We f ollow t hem a s t hey make
surprising a lliances w ith t heir f ellow p ris-
oners a nd e ven s ome o f t heir c aptors while
their o wn b onds with e ach o ther a re t ested
and d eepened. Here i s a t imeless p ortrayal
of hardship and hope through the eyes of the
rst non-Iranian Americans t o be held hos-
tage in Iran since the revolution.
0314
$27.00 / Higher in Canada
Riveting and necessar y and illuminating in countless unexpected ways. The hikers
have pulled off the almost impossible task of making from their hellish experience
something of beauty and grace.
DAVE EGGERS
A Sliver of Light weaves a spellbinding tale of hard-won sur vival at the intersec-
tion of courage and love the love of friends struggling to support one another in
wretched circumstances, the unyielding bedrock of mothers love for their long-
lost children, and the fiercely tested love of three people for the family of human-
kind. It is a triumph of writing born of a triumph of being.
ANDREW SOLOMON,
author of Far from the Tree and The Noonday Demon
Sarah, Shane, and Josh have a lesson for us all: with strength, solidarity, and a
firm hold on principles, one can endure. Despite their unjust imprisonment, soli-
tar y confinement, and the looming threat of death, they stayed true to their ideals
and defied the cruel illogic of global geopolitics that shackled them. A Sliver of
Light is a richly written testament to love, sur vival, and the determination to make
a difference in the world, whether behind bars or free.
AMY GOODMAN
host of Democracy Now! News Hour
In a captivating memoir, three young Americans adroitly draw us into an en-
grossing tale of innocents caught not only in a foreign prison, but between two
countries in a perpetual state of enmity. Writing in their three distinct voices and
with no hint of bitterness but with brutal honesty they convey the miser y and
mental torture of unjust imprisonment as well as the frustration of being pawns
in a geopolitical game.
HOOMAN MAJ D,
author of The Ayatollah Begs to Differ
A graduate of Berkeleys program in e nviron-
mental economics and policy, JOSHUA FATTAL
(le ) has been an activist and organizer focus-
ing on sustainable development. He is current-
ly pursuing an advanced degree at New York
University and lives in Brooklyn.
SARAH SHOURD is a w riter, e ducator, a nd
contributing editor at Solitary Watch currently
based in Oakland, California. Afer her wrong-
ful imprisonment in Iran, she has focused her
human r ights a dvocacy w ork o n c ombating
the widespread use of prolonged solitary con-
nement in U.S. prisons and jails.
SHANE BAUER is an award-winning investiga-
tive j ournalist and photographer whose work
has a ppeared in Mother J ones, t he Nation,
Salon, the Los Angeles Times, and many other
publications. He lives in Oakland.
ISBN 978-0-547-98553-4
$27.00 Higher in Canada
Jacket design by Mar tha Kennedy
Jacket photograph Noam Armonn/Space Images/Corbis
Author photograph Mia Nakano Photography
an eamon dolan book
HOUGHTON MI F F L I N HARCOURT
www.hmhco.com 1524389
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Shane
Bauer
Joshua
Fattal
Sarah
Shourd

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Bauer_Sliver-mech.indd 1 1/7/14 3:27 PM
A E D B
Houghton Miin Harcourt
Boston New York 2014
A SLIVER of LIGHT
THREE AMERICANS IMPRISONED IN IRAN
Shane Bauer
Joshua Fattal
Sarah Shourd
Bauer_Sliver_of_Light-F.indd 3 12/18/13 12:49 PM
Copyright ao by Shane Bauer, Joshua Fattal, and Sarah Shourd
ii vion:s vvsvvvvo
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book,
write to Permissions, Houghton Miin Harcourt Publishing Company,
a Park Avenue South, New York, New York ooo.
www.hmhco.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bauer, Shane.
A sliver of light : three Americans imprisoned in Iran i Shane Bauer,
Joshua Fattal and Sarah Shourd.
pages cm
An Eamon Dolan book.
isn ,;8-o-;-,8- (hardback)
. Bauer, Shane Imprisonment. a. Fattal, Joshua Imprisonment.
. Shourd, Sarah Imprisonment. . Political prisoners
Iran Biography. . Ivin (Prison) 6. Americans Iran Biography.
;. Hikers Iraq Kurdistan Biography. 8. Iran History ,,;
Biography. I. Fattal, Joshua. II. Shourd, Sarah. III. Title.
os8.,.n8 ao
6'.o,ao dca aoo,o;
Book design by Chrissy Kurpeski
Typeset in Warnock Pro
Printed in the United States of America
ooc o , 8 ; 6 a
Bauer_Sliver_of_Light-F.indd 4 1/2/14 1:53 PM
SUMMER 2009
1. SHANE
I stir out of sleep. The air is so fresh and cool, its almost minty. Dis-
tantly, I hear a stream purl. Sarah and Josh are lying on either side of
me, unmoving. A deep predawn glow infuses everything. A bat cuts
jaggedly through the air. I sit up and stretch my arms and back, which
sends bursts of energy through my body. Today, we are going to hike.
There are few things I love more than this.
Brown mountains jut up around us, mottled with specks of green
bushes and patches of yellow grass that looks like lions fur. The trail
we started on last night snakes upward, weaving a thin little thread
through the valley. We wash our faces in a nearby stream. We fll up
our many little water bottles, eat some bread and cheese, and walk.
Josh is light spirited and contemplative, jumping from one rock to
the next as we set of up the valley. Hes so good at shaking of weari-
ness, putting that wholesome smile back on his face. Sarah and I trail
behind him, holding hands and weaving our way between the rocks.
None of us speaks, except to point out the occasional curiosity, like
empty goat pastures hemmed in by short walls of piled-up rocks or
the occasional cement prayer niches with arrows that point the pious
toward Mecca.
Hours pass as we walk. Porcupine quills, cat feces, and per-
fectly round spiky purple fowers appear sporadically on the slowly
thinning trail. Josh is a hundred feet ahead. A cloud of yellow dust
is pluming behind him, rising above the dry grass and hanging in
the hazy air. Are we on a human-made trail, or did some goat slice
through this endless meadow, creating this tiny track we are trudg-
ing on? The heat is growing and I am easing into that state where my
body is tiring, but I just march on autopilot, pulled by something to-
ward the top of the mountain. It must be 11 a.m. How long have we
been walking? Five hours?
Bauer_Sliver_of_Light-F.indd 1 12/18/13 12:49 PM
A S L I V E R O F L I G H T 2
At some point, we stop to drink from our water bottles, which are
starting to run low, and Josh mentions that were heading east. We
could just keep going and go to Iran, he jokes. I remark that Iran
must be at least a hundred miles away. We keep walking.
We reach what looks like an old, disused road, clogged with large
rocks. We decide to temporarily jettison some of our things, cram-
ming blankets and books under a bush and building a little cairn on
the side of the road to remind us where the stash is. Then we plod up-
ward, winding up the switchbacks. The ridge has to be close. The ho-
rizon saddled between two peaks has seemed directly in front of
us for a while now. At the top, well turn back. Well have to, or well
miss Shon. He, the fourth of our group, stayed back in Sulaimaniya
to rest up and is going to meet us back where we started this morn-
ing. Well have a night around the fre before we catch a bus back up
through Iraqi Kurdistan to Turkey, through the fat expanse of the
Syrian Desert, and back to Sarahs and my little home, tucked into the
beautiful sprawl and bustle of Damascus.
As we walk, I notice a cigarette pack on the ground. There must
be people nearby. Maybe well fnd a village, have some tea, chat with
the locals.
We pass an ancient-looking, broken-down stone shack on the side
of the road. Sarah wants to turn back; I can feel it. Her energy is
nervous, but she is trying to hide it. Im used to this. She is strong and
brave, but shes often a bit anxious when we leave cities, even when
were in the United States. She fears things like mountain lions and
lone men. But she doesnt like to let the fear dictate her actions. She
also doesnt like to be coddled, so I let her deal with it herself. Any-
way, I want to get to the top.
Would you rather . . . , she starts to ask Josh and me, before trail-
ing of momentarily. She likes to play this game when we walk and, I
think, when shes uncomfortable with the silence. I love how she al-
ways starts it the same way, stating the frst clause, then deciding on
the second clause while the listener waits. Now she asks, Would you
rather get surrounded by fve mountain lions right now, or fve mem-
bers of al-Qaeda?
I think for a few seconds. Probably mountain lions, I say. We
Bauer_Sliver_of_Light-F.indd 2 12/18/13 12:49 PM
S U M M E R 2 0 0 9 3
could probably scare them of. I think if we were grabbed by al-
Qaeda, we wouldnt have much of a chance.
Dont you think you could reason with al-Qaeda, though? Josh
says. Speak to them in Arabic? Tell them you dont hate Muslims?
Tell them youre critical of our government?
I dont think it would matter, I say. But okay. Ill go for al-Qaeda.
Maybe youre right. Maybe we could try to reason with al-Qaeda.
There would be no reasoning with fve mountain lions.
Sarah chimes in. I would defnitely choose al-Qaeda . . . She
pauses. You guys, I think we should turn back. Its getting hot and
were almost out of water.
Then, as if on cue, a tiny runnel trickles across the road. We dont
have to go back just yet. The water is coming from a little spring,
dribbling into a small, cement, human-made basin. I pour the water
over my head by the bottleful and laugh as it runs down my skin. I
cant remember the last time I felt so free. Free of time. Free of worry.
Free of the heat.
Could I be more content, more happy? We take a break, our in-
sides cooled after fve hours of walking, and fall asleep in the shade.
I wake to the phone ringing. Its Shon. He is on a bus and getting
ready to come to meet us. How could the phone get coverage way up
here? Just go to the waterfall, I tell him. Its right past the big camp-
ground with hundreds of people camped out. There are a bunch of
tea vendors and stands selling souvenirs and stuf. From the water-
fall, walk straight up the trail and up the valley. Well be coming down
soon. There is no way we can miss each other. I hang up as Sarah and
Josh stir out of sleep.


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