Iran Yet to Release American Hiker, Despite Promises

A picture obtained from Iran's state-run English-language Press TV shows detained U.S. hikers (L-R) Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd, and Josh Fattal waiting to meet their mothers for the first time since their arrest, in the Iranian capital Tehran on May 20. AFP PHOTO/PRESS TV

Iranian officials say they still intend release American Sarah Shourd due to her ill health. Shourd was supposed to be released Sept. 11, but was kept in detention after officials said certain matters regarding her case had not been cleared.

Iran said it will release Shourd on bail with a surety of $500,000.

Three Americans—Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer, and Joshua Fattal—were arrested in July 2009 on Iran’s border with Iraq. Their families say they accidentally crossed the border into Iran while hiking in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Since their arrest, the three have been held in Evin Prison in Teheran.

Iranian officials are holding the Americans on suspicions of espionage but have not charged them.

Tehran chief prosecutor, Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi, said Sunday at a press conference that Shourd was free to leave the country as soon as the surety was paid. The two other detained hikers will not be released.

Thirty-two-year-old American Sarah Shourd, the only woman among three detainees, has been living in solitary confinement and her health is reportedly deteriorating. She is depressed and has a lump in her breast and precancerous cells in her cervix, her mother told AFP.

Iranian officials had initially planned to release Shourd Saturday, in recognition of the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, but suspended the release recently due to unresolved legal issues.

Observers say the delay indicated an ongoing power struggle between the president and the other hardliners within the government.

Shourd’s planned release faced criticism from some hardline members of Parliament who accused the government of “meddling in the judiciary’s affairs,” according to a report in Tehran-e Emrouz daily, Sunday.

However, Shourd’s release was eventually secured by the intervention of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, because of a “special view of Iran on the dignity of women.”

The hiker’s lawyer, Masoud Shafii, said the three were not spying. “They have been held for over a year without a trial and, according to the law, should all be released. I will be very happy if Sarah will be freed,” he said, quoted by the Washington Post.

The U.S. State Department said last week that if the release happens it will be “terrific” news.

“We hope it’s all three hikers who should be released, and we’ve said all along, on humanitarian grounds immediately,” said Mark C. Toner, acting deputy department spokesman.