Two months after Iran released Concordia College alumna and journalist Roxana Saberi, another reporter with ties to Minnesota needs the state's support and prayers as he faces a similar, harrowing detainment in the hardline Islamist nation.

Shane Bauer, who was born in Minnesota, is an award-winning freelance photographer and writer who has reported from some of the world's most dangerous places -- Iraq, Syria, and Sudan. Bauer had taken time off to sightsee in the Kurdish region in northern Iraq, when his ordeal began. The graduate of the University of California, Berkeley was hiking with two friends in the mountainous area last Friday when the group apparently crossed the Iranian border and was taken into custody. With Bauer were two others on holiday: his girlfriend, Sarah Shourd of California, and Joshua Fattal, who works in Oregon.

Western officials have been unable to confirm that the three are being held or where they are located. On Tuesday, things appeared to take a turn for the worse. New information surfaced that an Iranian parliamentarian who heads that body's National Security Committee spoke about the situation on Iran's state-run television. The lawmaker said he believes the three are spies and added that officials are considering espionage charges against them. A State Department spokesman quickly dismissed the allegations.

Saberi, a native of North Dakota whose family is from Iran, had been convicted of espionage earlier this year and initially sentenced to eight years in prison. She was released in May after months of diplomatic pressure and intense global media coverage of her plight. There's reason to remain hopeful about Bauer, Shourd and Fattal's fate. On Tuesday, North Korea pardoned two American journalists as a "humanitarian" gesture. Iran also has a history of detaining people under similar circumstances -- to make a point about respecting the country's laws -- then letting them go as a goodwill gesture. Saberi's release is a recent example of that.

Still, relations between Iran and the United States have grown more tense since the North Dakota native returned home. Its presidential election ended in charges of voting fraud. The massive, bloody protests that followed garnered global headlines. Hardliners within the Iranian government accuse the United States of fomenting the dissent. Hopefully, cooler heads will recognize that using Bauer, Shourd and Fattal as political pawns would only reinforce the nation's recent bad press.

Undoubtedly, Bauer and his group took a risk hiking into the beautiful but treacherous terrain. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the area's twisting trails can be difficult to navigate and often take hikers back-and-forth across miles of unmarked international borders. That Bauer's group inadvertently strayed into Iran is very plausible.

Should the three have been more cautious? Yes. But should they spend years locked away for making the common tourist's mistake of taking a wrong turn? Absolutely not. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and others are working closely with the U.S. State Department for their release. Here's hoping these efforts bring these young Americans home safe, sound and soon.