Iran Says It Has Released American Hikers Charged As Spies

Shane Bauer, left, and Josh Fattal in Tehran in May (AP Photo/Press TV).

The two Americans arrested two years ago while hiking along the Iran-Iraq border and then imprisoned on espionage charges have been released—according to the Iranian state-run media. There has not yet been any confirmation that the pair have actually left the prison they have been held in, but U.S. officials seem confident they are on their way out.

Masoud Shafiei, the lawyer acting on behalf of 29-year-olds Shane M. Bauer and Joshua F. Fattal, has previously told the AP the pair would be handed over to Swiss diplomats and (amidst political unrest in his country) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been promising for the past week that they would be freed “in a couple of days.” Last week it seemed like they would be released on $500,000 bails (as a third American hiker, Sarah Shourd, was last September). That still appears to be the case.

The three hikers were arrested in 2009 after apparently, they say mistakenly, walking over an unmarked border between Iraqi Kurdistan and Iran. Iran claimed the Americans are spies, but they have maintained their innocence.

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By Garth Johnston in News on September 21, 2011 8:52 AM

Comments [rss]

LICnative

To celebrate their release, they're going yachting off the Somalia coast.

SonnyBobiche

Null comment. How do I delete it?

SonnyBobiche

Did the US government post the half million dollar ransom, I mean, bail the Iranians were demanding earlier?

pendejito

Hikers my ass. They were US spies, and we all know it. There is no way in hell that these three western, ie white hikers could have gone that far without being detained or prevented from proceeding. After all, they did this in the middle of a war zone.

Wake up and stop believing everything that is sold to you. How long did it take the US to admit to Pakistan that the American who shot two Pakistanis in Lahore was indeed a CIA agent?

Politburo

First, all three had experience traveling the world. One was fluent in Arabic. They weren't your typical western tourist.

Second, in 2009 Iraq was not a 'war zone'.

Third, what could they have possibly been spying on? They had no special equipment and there are a couple miles between the border and anything on the Iranian side. Of course Iran would not build anything sensitive anywhere near the border in the first place. And as you say, they are white, so they couldn't have blended into the society.

Were they misguided, stupid, idiotic? Sure. But the idea that they were spies is even dumber.

ANGRYGOD11

And point number four: They did not speak Farsi nor Kurdish, the main languages of Iran. So, they had no real money, no car, didn't speak the language, carried American ID and somehow they were supposed to find out what on a hostile border? Unless we believe Iran is keeping its greatest secrets right by a poorly protected border.

SonnyBobiche

I know you are joking (I think) but really. In Iraq, a country with over a hundred thousand US soldiers and thousands of other agents plus tons of aircraft, do we need two douchy-looking kids to spy over the border with Iran?

HughGass

They work for the Ace Tomato Company

Len_Drexler

Iran is following the standard playbook for these types of incidents. Arrest suspects. Hold them for a year or two. Give them a show trial that ends in conviction with lengthy sentence. Release them soon after.

Guest

I'm sure the fact they did this during the week of the UN General Assembly has absolutely nothing to do with them trying to grab attention and PR . . .

Peanut_Butter

How much did we waste on back-door deals to get these 2 knuckleheads released?

LtWorf

Usually when I go hiking, I try to do so within countries not hostile to my country of origin. Getting thrown in jail for years being interrogated, possibly tortured and raped in the showers, somewhat takes something away from my connection to nature.

TheOkayestGeneration

Its only happened two or three times to me, while on the appalachian trail, but Canadian imprisonment and torture is actually more like a day spa.