Josh Fattal's family and friends brace for his trial in Iran

Come Wednesday, when American hiker Josh Fattal is finally to go on trial in Iran, the cozy den of his family's home in Elkins Park will be a tense situation room - computers aglow, cellphones and landlines poised for overseas calls.

It will be 2 a.m. here when the proceeding begins in Tehran.

The case has dragged on for more than 20 months against a backdrop of worsening U.S.-Iranian relations. Court dates have been postponed twice since November.

"Iran obviously feels they have something extremely valuable, and they do - to us," Josh's brother, Alex, said Friday. "If Iran wants to make a statement to the United States, they should make a statement to the United States, not to three American families."

Alex, 32, and his parents, Laura and Jacob Fattal, have campaigned tirelessly to win freedom for Josh and his hiking companion Shane Bauer of Minnesota. Both 28, the old friends from the University of California, Berkeley, were arrested on July 31, 2009, while trekking on the border with Iraqi Kurdistan, and charged with entering Iran illegally. Iranian officials have accused them of spying.

A third hiker, Sarah Shourd, 32, of California, was released on bail eight months ago for medical reasons after more than a year in solitary confinement. This week, citing a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, Shourd, who also attended UC-Berkeley and became engaged to Bauer in prison, said she would not return to stand trial. She could be tried in absentia, or rescheduled for trial.

The three have denied entering the country knowingly or having any involvement with espionage.

Facing her second Mother's Day with her son still in prison, Laura Fattal said Iranian authorities know her son and his companions are innocent, which makes her angry about the delays.

"If they want to go through their judicial process, fine," she said. "But now it's cruel. We're up to [the point of] seeing this as grievous and inhumane. This is not the compassion and mercy we are expecting" of the "Iranians when they say they are a compassionate nation."

She spoke near a table in the Park Hyatt at the Bellevue Gourmet Food Court in Center City, where supporters sold "Free the Hikers" cards for Mother's Day, and merchants donated a portion of their receipts to the cause. The five-day fund-raiser, which ended Friday, was organized by Bret Goldman, a Fattal family friend who operates several restaurants in the food court.

A year ago, the hikers were allowed a short visit with their mothers, who flew to Tehran hoping to persuade authorities to set them free without a trial. The hikers have had four brief visits with a Swiss envoy who represents U.S. interests in Iran. (America severed direct diplomatic ties after Iranians stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979.)

Masoud Shafii, the Iranian human rights lawyer hired to represent the hikers, has been denied access to them in prison and sees them only when they go to court.

Under the banner of FreeTheHikers.org, the organization founded by family and friends, supporters have brought international attention to the case. They have received letters of support from celebrities, statesmen, politicians and academics, including Muhammad Ali, Yusuf Islam, Mia Farrow, Noam Chomsky, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Ban Ki-Moon, and others.

On the one-year anniversary of the hikers' arrest, President Obama said in a statement: "I want to be perfectly clear: Sarah, Shane, and Josh have never worked for the U.S. government."

He described them as "open-minded and adventurous people who represent the best of America and the human spirit."

Bauer, a photojournalist; Shourd, a language teacher; and Fattal, an environmentalist, were hiking in a relatively safe tourist region of Kurdistan when they say they may have crossed Iran's unmarked border inadvertently.

Laura Fattal said the unpredictability of the case has played havoc with her family's health.

Since the last court date on Feb. 6, "none of us has slept through the night," she said. "We have had stomach issues. We are not in good shape. We present well, but we are suffering."

In a recent statement, the families described the "devastating toll" the case has taken on their jobs, income, and education in order to work full time for the release of their imprisoned sons.

"Our fears for the psychological well-being of Shane and Josh grow with each day that they remain unnecessarily detained," the families said.

Wednesday may bring the longed-for resolution. Information about the closed-door trial could come in a phone call from the Swiss envoy in Tehran. It could be passed to the families through channels of the State Department. It could move in a bulletin on the news agency wires.

One thing for sure, said Alex Fattal, "we'll be hitting 'refresh.' "