America

Five Years Since a Prisoner in Iran, Elkins Park Native Josh Fattal Has Son, New Life

The way Josh Fattal tries to look at it, the experience was only “1/17th” of his life.

Five years since the Cheltenham High School alum's release from two years as a prisoner in Iran, Fattal has become a husband, father and PhD candidate at New York University.

“It was a chance to renew my appreciation for life, my family, and friends,” he said in an interview Wednesday.

The Elkins Park native was released from Tehran's notorious Evin Prison on Sept. 21, 2011, following two years of captivity on charges that he and two friends were American spies. Their families always claimed they were simply three young people vacationing in Iraqi Kurdistan near the Iraq-Iran border. Shane Bauer and Sara Short were also held as prisoners. Short was released in 2010. Bauer was released the same day as Fattal.

They became internationally known as "the three American hikers."

Fattal said he hopes to instill in his 3-year-old son some of the lessons he has learned while traveling.

“I’d like for him to learn and differentiate the good guys from the bad guys. He’s growing up in a world where the planet is becoming more uninhabitable and wars are more common. By introducing him to these things, he can get a sense of appreciation for life,” Fattal said.

Since being freed, the social justice activist has done speaking tours at several universities, where he’s shared his experiences as a prisoner and an object of what he called American and Iranian propaganda.

“The Iranian government would instill fear in their citizens by lying to them and saying we were spies; In America, the media would portray [our captivity] as an act of extreme terrorism,” he said.

The three hikers published a joint memoir titled “A Sliver of Light."

“The book brings people into a very intimate stage in my life, and they come away affected from it [after reading the book],” he said.

Fattal, now 34, isn’t phased by the two years he lost while being held captive. He plans to spend the rest of it devoted to his family and his charitable work. 

He currently lives in Brooklyn.

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