Mom: Captive Hiker Has Precancerous Condition

Cindy Hickey and Noura Shourd are stuck in a painful waiting game. They don’t know why Iran is still holding their kids, Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd, and they’re getting no help from the US State Department, they tell Newsweek journalist, and former Iranian captive, Maziar Bahiri in an emotional interview. Shourd also reveals that her daughter has a precancerous condition in her cervix and has developed a lump in her breast.

“I usually don’t like to talk about it,” she continued. “But Sarah said that I should tell everyone about her condition.” The mothers said their kids hadn’t been interrogated since September. They asked Bahiri when he thought they’d be released, and whether he’d heard them speaking while he was in prison. Bahiri said he had, and that they were likely well treated because of their political importance. “I’m sure they’ve been given the best rooms in Evin Prison. Your kids are lucky they’re not Iranian.” For more on Bahiri’s own stint in Iran, click here. (More Cindy Hickey stories.)