The mothers of the three hikers detained in Iran after accidentally tip-toeing across the border while hiking in Northern Iraq last summer have just sent a new letter to the head of the judiciary in Iran pleading for their children's release. We're approaching the one-year anniversary of their capture on July 31st, and the mothers of Berkeley grads Joshua Fattal, Sarah Shourd, and Shane Bauer are using stern words regarding what they call an "unjust and arbitrary detention" that they say "harms" Iran in the eyes of the world. Good luck with that.

The three mothers made a noble bid to retrieve their kids themselves by traveling to Iran in May. They returned empty handed but said they were relieved that the kids were "in reasonable health" and were "being well treated."

We don't especially like revisiting this story, because it's gone on so long now and seems so hopeless, but clearly the U.S. government or someone besides their moms needs to make some more noise about this. These kids might have done a dumb thing, but they don't deserve to rot over there. And we're sure someone in Hollywood is already writing a treatment of this, if not a full-fledged screenplay, and therefore this needs a happy ending!