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D.C. Dispatches by Cynthia Dizikes

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    Iranians allow Swiss to contact arrested hikers

    By Cynthia Dizikes | Published Wed, Sep 30 2009 1:07 pm

    WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Iranian government will allow the Swiss Embassy to make contact with three American hikers who were arrested after crossing into Iran in July, according to a statement released today by a group of U.S. senators, including Minnesota’s Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken.

    One of the hikers was formerly from Minnesota.

    “As a group of concerned senators from states representing their families, we are asking the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to help resolve this unfortunate humanitarian situation,” the senators wrote in a joint statement.  “Our only concern is to see these young people reunited with their families.
 

    “We welcome the news that the Iranian government has granted consular access to the Swiss Embassy to meet with the hikers. We ask the Iranian government to make a humanitarian gesture and release [the Americans]. We also hope that the Iranian government will allow them to communicate with their families by telephone.”

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    Illustration by Hugh Bennewitz

    minnpost.com/cynthiadizikes


    Cynthia Dizikes is MinnPost's Washington, D.C., correspondent and covers Minnesota's congressional delegation and reports on developments out of Washington that are important to Minnesota readers. She received her master's degree in journalism from UC Berkeley and has worked as an intern in the Los Angeles Times' Washington bureau, reporting on a variety of topics, and as a reporter for the Anniston Star in Alabama. Her work has also appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Oakland Tribune, Congress Daily and on National Public Radio. She can be reached at cdizikes [at] minnpost [dot] com.

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