The parents of the three U.C. Berkeley grads being held in an Iranian prison since July have retained a prominent Iranian lawyer to argue on their behalf. The three hostages -- Shane Bauer, his girlfriend Sarah Shourd and their friend Joshua Fattal -- wandered inadvertently across the Iranian border in July while hiking (for reasons unfathomable to SFist) in the mountains of Kurdistan. They have not been permitted to call home, but their families recently read reports that they may face undisclosed charges in an Iranian court, and the Chron has learned that they have hired the services of Attorney Masoud Shafii to represent them in court.

So far, the demands of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have gone unheeded by the Iranian government, who believe the three hikers had "suspicious aims." Clearly the only thing suspicious about these three is their choice of pleasure-seeking locales -- haven't these kids heard of Phuket? Is Prague really that over?