Jolie King and Mark Firkin from Australia, were backpacking and were blogging their travels in Asia and the Middle East.
They had started travelling in 2017, and they were documenting their adventures on Instagram and Youtube as Vloggers (video bloggers), where they reportedly have more than 20,000 followers.
They wrote online that "Our biggest motivation... is to hopefully inspire anyone wanting to travel, and also try to break the stigma around travelling to countries which get a bad wrap [sic] in the media."
.... in other words its the West that misreports these countries as lawless or dangerous. So they left Western Australia to drive across Asia to the UK, and they made good progress right through to Southern Asia and Central Asia .... right up to Turkmenistan.
So they get in to Iran. There they were reportedly arrested around the 15th of July near Tehran, but news of the arrest was withheld for 10 weeks. They are believed to be being held in Tehran's infamous Evin prison where all the other foreign hostages are held .... usually with 10 year prison sentences for 'spying'.
They had reportedly been flying a drone without a permit, but as usual Iran hasn't publicised the charges .... One hopes that they, and all the other hostages Iran has seized are let free soon, but history suggests that's unlikely. The foreigners, and all the duo nationals who insist on going to Iran as though its a civilised country, only to find that its not, are either incredibly naive, or just bloody stupid.
I wonder if this latest couple of hostages, now think that Iran gets "a bad rap in the media".
UPDATE: Good news for our innocents abroad ... They have now been released from an Iranian jail, Australia's government has said. Of course there was a price ..... Australia has released an Iranian student, Reza Dehbashi, back to Tehran, he had been arrested in September 2018 for allegedly sending American-made military equipment to Iran. Hostage taking is thus reinforced in the minds of this regime.
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| Backpacking For Beginners ..... |
They had started travelling in 2017, and they were documenting their adventures on Instagram and Youtube as Vloggers (video bloggers), where they reportedly have more than 20,000 followers.
They wrote online that "Our biggest motivation... is to hopefully inspire anyone wanting to travel, and also try to break the stigma around travelling to countries which get a bad wrap [sic] in the media."
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| Their Planned Route By Passed Afghanistan ..... |
.... in other words its the West that misreports these countries as lawless or dangerous. So they left Western Australia to drive across Asia to the UK, and they made good progress right through to Southern Asia and Central Asia .... right up to Turkmenistan.
So they get in to Iran. There they were reportedly arrested around the 15th of July near Tehran, but news of the arrest was withheld for 10 weeks. They are believed to be being held in Tehran's infamous Evin prison where all the other foreign hostages are held .... usually with 10 year prison sentences for 'spying'.
They had reportedly been flying a drone without a permit, but as usual Iran hasn't publicised the charges .... One hopes that they, and all the other hostages Iran has seized are let free soon, but history suggests that's unlikely. The foreigners, and all the duo nationals who insist on going to Iran as though its a civilised country, only to find that its not, are either incredibly naive, or just bloody stupid.
I wonder if this latest couple of hostages, now think that Iran gets "a bad rap in the media".
UPDATE: Good news for our innocents abroad ... They have now been released from an Iranian jail, Australia's government has said. Of course there was a price ..... Australia has released an Iranian student, Reza Dehbashi, back to Tehran, he had been arrested in September 2018 for allegedly sending American-made military equipment to Iran. Hostage taking is thus reinforced in the minds of this regime.
Good news for these two who aren't dual nationals but no good news for all those Iran considers to be theirs.
ReplyDeleteThat's been the case for the last few decades .... thanks for the comment, always appreciated.
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