Iran should have kept them.

(NBC) — The Iran hikers chose the city of Oakland and the Occupy movement as the backdrop for a rare public appearance Monday.

Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal said they will be at Frank Ogawa plaza at 5 p.m. to take part in an Occupy Oakland rally.

Up until now Occupy rallies have been mostly economic protests, but the hikers may turn Monday night into a political rally.

Organizers of Occupy Oakland said they will talk about the connections that can be drawn between what the trio went through in Iran and the situation in U.S. prisons, as well as the hunger strikes taking place in California prisons.

This is only their second public appearance since returning home to the United States after being freed from prison in Iran. They were arrested in July 2009 after Iran said they crossed over its border during a hike in northern Iraq. Shourd was released in Sept. 2010. Bauer and Fattal were released last month.

All three graduated from University of California at Berkeley and Shourd has been living in Oakland since her release.

The anti-Wall Street protests started in New York City a month ago and have spread across the country.

Occupy groups cite the economic disparity between the richest 1 percent of the population and the remaining 99 percent. They have been calling for increased regulation of banks and Wall Street investment firms.

There are also occupy groups in San Jose, Walnut Creek, Santa Rosa and San Rafael and other cities. On Monday afternoon, an Occupy group was scheduled to protest at the gates of Pebble Beach in Monterey County.

They also thanked CAIR for seeking their release.