'This is not a political situation at all, it's totally humanitarian,' said Patrick Sandys, cousin of detainee Sarah Shourd, on Tuesday. 'We don't want it to get mired in the already difficult political situation between the U.S. and Iran. We just want our family members home.' Sarah Shourd, 31; Shane Bauer, 27, and Joshua Fattal, 27, have been in Iranian custody since they crossed into the country July 31 while hiking through a mountainous area of Iraq's northern Kurdistan region. Since then, family members said, they have had no contact with their loves ones. Speaking from her Oakland, Calif., home, Shourd's mother, Nora Shourd, said she hoped Ahmadinejad would bring the trio with him to New York, where he is scheduled to address the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday. Last week, the three mothers wrote a letter to Ahmadinejad, asking him to bring their children to New York. Soon after, Ahmadinejad told NBC News that he sympathized with the families but said the hikers needed to be punished. Iranian officials have said the three were arrested for entering Iran without visas. At least one official has accused the trio of spying. Initially, family members said, they tried to maintain a low profile while they gathered information. But more than 50 days after the arrest, they know little about where their loved ones are being kept or what charges they might face, Sandys said. U.S. State Department officials said they have unsuccessfully pressed Iranian officials through Swiss diplomats -- who represent U.S. interests in Iran -- for access to the group. Family members now are hoping to draw attention to the detained hikers by talking to the media and holding public events. 'Essentially, we'd like Ahmadinejad to see it, to sympathize or empathize, given that he's a father himself and, hopefully, release our kids as a very wonderful humanitarian gesture,' said Sandys, who lives in Laguna Beach, Calif. Fattal graduated in 2004 with a bachelor of science degree in environmental economics and policy. He had embarked on a year of travel in which he visited several countries before heading to Damascus, Syria, to visit Bauer and Shourd. Bauer graduated in 2007 with a degree in peace and conflict studies. He is a freelance journalist and photographer. Shourd, who graduated in 2003 with a bachelor's degree in English, was an English tutor in Northern California for many years. She moved to Damascus about a year ago, where she lived with Bauer, and was teaching English and learning Arabic when the group headed to Iraq for a week's vacation. Shourd, who was raised mostly in Los Angeles, has traveled around the globe -- from Guatemala and Mexico to Ethiopia and Yemen. 'Sarah and Shane are big outdoors people,' said Nora Shourd. 'Hiking trips, outdoors stuff -- we've been doing that since she was a little girl.' The families plan to hold a candlelight vigil Sept. 30, which marks two months since the arrest. 