Shon Meckfessel, the fourth American who was traveling with the three hikers detained on the Iraq-Iran border this summer, published a letter to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad on the The Nation Web site today, asking him to intercede "with the appropriate authorities for the immediate release of my friends Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal."

Mr. President, by continuing to deprive Shane, Sarah and Josh of their liberty, Iran is working against some of the very causes it supports. Each of these three has a long and public record of contesting injustice in the world and addressing some of the inequities between rich and poor which you have spoken about through their humanitarian work in their own country and overseas.

More, after the jump.

The four had been traveling together in the Kurdish region of Iraq. In an interview on Democracy Now today, Meckfessel says he didn't set out on the hike because he thought he was coming down with a cold and didn't want to camp outside that night. He was en route to meet up with his friends the next day when he received a phone call from Bauer, a freelancer for various Bay Area publications, saying the three had been detained.

In his letter, Meckfessel tries to explain why he does not believe his friends are a threat to Iran.

"Since [the detention], I have maintained silence in deference to the investigation," Meckfessel writes. "As much as my friends' absence has been acutely painful, I understood that investigators would want to clarify the circumstances of their trip. I had hoped that the misunderstanding would be resolved quickly. Three months have now passed, and I cannot imagine what more the Iranian authorities might have to learn about my friends or what they were doing in the area. To help put to rest any such questions, I would like to offer to submit a notarized statement to your country's mission to the United Nations vouching for my friends and detailing the circumstances of our trip. If this is not sufficient, I would be willing to come to Tehran to attest to their characters in person."