TEHRAN, Iran – Two Americans jailed in Iran on charges of espionage could be released after a court hearing slated for Sunday, their lawyer said.
Masoud Shafiei said Saturday the fact that the session in the trial of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal would coincide with the second anniversary of their arrest may indicate that they will be freed.
The Muslim world also has a tradition of pardoning prisoners for the holy month of Ramadan, which starts early in the week ahead.
The two men and Bauer's fiancee, Sarah Shourd, were detained on July 31, 2009, and Iran accused them of illegally crossing the border to spy. Shourd was released last year on $500,000 bail and has said she won't return to Iran for trial.
They deny the charges and claim they were only hiking in a scenic, mountainous area in the semiautonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, near the Iranian border.
The lawyer said Shourd has not been summoned for Sunday's trial session, and he thinks that's another indication that the case is almost over and his clients will be freed.
Shafiei suggested the court could convict the two but then sentence them to time served.
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1 comment:
hey, honey...let's go hiking!! I'm thinking we should take a long, long plane trip and walk around in the mountains of Iran. You know, all that stuff about Americans being hated in that part of the world is reall exagerrated. Yeah, yeah, I know the Rockies are beautiful this time of year and we still haven't done the Appalachain (sp?)Trail, but THIS Iran thing will be wonderful hiking. I think they WERE spying. Or INCREDIBLY stupid.
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