Middle East News

Two jailed US hikers in Iran to be released, lawyer says

Sep 21, 2011, 9:32 GMT

A file television grab taken from Iran\'s state-run news network Press TV shows Josh Fatal sitting in a court . EPA/PRESS TV

Tehran - The two US hikers jailed in Iran for spying were to be released on Wednesday, their lawyer told Fars news agency.

Massoud Shafei said that he had obtained judicial approval for bail of 1 million dollars which would enable the release of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal.

The lawyer added that as soon as the bail was paid, he would pick up the two from Evin prison in northern Tehran and hand them over to diplomats of the Swiss embassy, which represents US interests in Iran.

The two were expected to be taken to the airport where an Omani plane was reportedly waiting to take them to Muscat. The bail payment would be routed through Oman because Iran and the US have no diplomatic or banking relations.

Bauer and Fattal were detained in July 2009 with their companion Sarah Shourd after crossing into Iran from Iraq's Kurdistan region.

Shourd was released in September 2010 on health grounds and returned to the United States, while a Tehran court in August sentenced Bauer and Fattal to eight years in prison.

The case took an unexpected turn after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told US broadcaster NBC last week that the two men would be released.

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