(Image source: Al Jazeera)

BY NICOLE THOMPSON

Recently freed American hikers Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal are opening up about their two years in captivity in Iran-- and blasting their Iranian captors. Britain’s Telegraph TV has the highlights.

“We were held in captivity, in almost complete isolation ... We had to go on hunger strikes repeatedly just to receive letters from our loved ones ... We heard the screams of other prisoners being beaten.”

Bauer and Fattal were accused of espionage by the Iran government after allegedly crossing the border during a hiking trip two years ago-- but they have maintained their innocence.

Fattal tells reporters, they were held captive because they are Americans-- not because they committed a crime.

And Al Jazeera adds-- the men believe they were pawns.

“They say they became caught up in the political crossfire between Washington and Tehran, but they were convicted simply because they were American.”

“In prison, every time we complained about our conditions, the guards would immediately remind us of comparable conditions at Guantanamo Bay. They would remind us of CIA prisons in other parts of the world, and conditions that Iranians and others experience in prisons in the U.S.”

And in an interview with Iran’s Fars News Agency, the hikers’ lawyer says those accusations aren’t true.

“‘Why have they made such allegations when their problem has been resolved and they have left the country?’ the lawyer asked.”

Finally, the American Spectator suggests the hikers just don’t get it. IIn response to the hikers’ suggestion that they were captured because they oppose Iran’s policies, a blogger writes:

“To the Iranian regime, as with al Qaeda, all Americans are infidels. Short of converting to Islam and submitting to their way of life nothing will change that attitude. If Bauer doesn't understand that by now then he probably never will.”