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Iran offers to release hostage hikers as a “humanitarian gesture,” and possibly for $500,000 bail

Sep 14, 2011 12:07 am By Marisol Seibold

IranHikers.jpg

They are hostages. And the faces of the two men in the image above speak volumes; there is likely far more to come out about their treatment when they are out of custody.

As was the case with Sara Shourd, they may well have sit for some photo ops and sing the praises of the Iranian regime all the way to the end of Iranian airspace.

An update on this story. “Lawyer: Iran Sets Bail for 2 Jailed Americans,” by Nasser Karimi for the Associated Press, September 13:

An Iranian court Tuesday set bail of $500,000 each for two American men arrested more than two years ago and convicted on spy-related charges, clearing the way for their release a year after a similar bail-for-freedom arrangement for the third member of the group, their defense attorney said.

Another recent report has backpedaled slightly from the bail figure, but still quotes an Iranian official as saying the two would be released on terms similar to those for Shourd.

Lawyer Masoud Shafiei said the court would begin the process to free Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal after payment of the bail, which must be arranged through third parties because of U.S. economic sanctions on Iran. But the timing of the court’s decision is similar to last year’s bail deal mediated by the Gulf state of Oman that freed a third American, Sarah Shourd.

“They accepted to set bail to release,” Shafiei told The Associated Press after leaving the court. “The amount is the same for Sarah.”

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in an interview aired on NBC’s “Today” show, predicted the Americans could be freed “in a couple of days.” He described the bail offer as a “humanitarian gesture” and repeated complaints about attention for Iranians held in U.S. prisons.

In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the United States was “encouraged” by Ahmadinejad’s comments.

“We obviously hope that we will see a positive outcome from what appears to be a decision by the government,” Clinton told reporters at the State Department.

The Americans were arrested in July 2009 along the Iran-Iraq border and accused by Iran of espionage. The trio have denied the charges and say they may have mistakenly crossed into Iran when they stepped off a dirt road while hiking near a waterfall in the Kurdish region of Iraq.

Last month, Bauer and Fattal, both 29, were sentenced to three years each for illegal entry into Iran and five years each for spying for the United States. They appealed the verdicts. Shourd’s case remains open.

Shafiei said he has passed along details of the court’s decision to the Swiss Embassy, which represent U.S. interests in Iran since there are no diplomatic relations between Tehran and Washington.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said officials were in touch with Swiss envoys “to get more details from the Iranian authorities.”

Iran may have timed the court decision to coincide with Ahmadinejad’s visit later this month to New York for the general assembly of the United Nations. Last year, Shourd was released on bail just as Ahmadinejad was heading for the annual gathering of world leaders.

But Ahmadinejad was not likely involved closely in any decisions on the case. Iran’s judiciary is controlled by the country’s ruling clerics, who have been waging relentless pressure on Ahmadinejad and his allies as part of an internal power struggle….

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