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Dear Ms. Shourd

No, I\’m afraid it doesn\’t quite work like that:

An American woman released from prison in Iran has said she will not return there to stand trial alongside two fellow hikers charged with spying for the US.

Sarah Shourd said she has post-traumatic stress disorder and going back to Iran would be \”far too traumatic after what I\’ve already been through\”.

You see, extradition, people turning up in court to answer charges, these are reciprocal things.

You get to take only those privileges and excuses that your own government offers to those it wants to see in its own courts. Turn and turn about sort of thing, d\’ye see?

And the US does not offer an \”it\’ll be too stressful\” get out of court free card to those it wishes to prosecute: see Gary McKinnon for details.

So, stressful though you may find it, you don\’t get to have such a card either.

5 thoughts on “Dear Ms. Shourd”

  1. But this is Guardianworld…..so let’s play Victim Poker

    That she’s Amerikan means that she’s trumped by a flush of Evil Mad Mullahs.
    She can play the ‘I’m a Woman Get out of Jail Free Card’ but is living with a male co-defendant so can’t raise by ‘I’m a Lesbian’
    The Iranians really need a Jewish Ace in their hand at this point to win.

  2. “hiking trip during a vacation in Kurdistan”

    See? This is where that hippy western liberal holidaying in the arse-end-of-nowhere thing gets you.

    The moral of the story? Stick to places where there’s an M&S and they speak English.

  3. It’s not reciprocal at all – can anyone seriously imagine a US court agreeing to deport a US citizen to Iran to face half-arsed spying charges?

    Tim’s final sentence should say “shouldn’t”, not “don’t”.

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