NEW YORK - The mothers of three American hikers held in Iran for almost a year are on the verge of being reunited with them and have started their journey to visit them in prison.
Josh Fattal, Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd 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 accidentally.
The mothers are from Oakland, California, rural Minnesota and suburban Philadelphia. They were granted visas last week. They arrived in New York on Sunday and plan to leave for Iran within days.
Swiss diplomats who visited the hikers in April reported Shourd had a serious gynecological condition and was depressed while Bauer had a stomach ailment.
