Sarah Shourd

Iranian authorities are prepared to release on $500,000 bail one of three American hikers held since last year, Tehran's chief prosecutor said Sunday. However, the trio was formally charged at a morning session with espionage and trespassing into Iran, and the detention of the other two Americans was extended for two months, the hikers' defense attorney told The Times. "All my clients pleaded not guilty and did not accept the charges," attorney Masoud Shafii said in a telephone interview, adding that the three were in "good spirits.

The saga of the three American hikers snatched by Iranian border guards along the Iran-Iraq border in 2009 and accused of spying and illegal entry held the world's attention for more than two years. Now, one year after he was released from an Iranian prison, Joshua Fattal, a teacher and environmentalist, will be a guest here at Yom Kippur services at the arts synagogue, the Beverly Hills Temple of the Arts-Saban Theatre, on Sept. 26. In my column last week, I spoke to Sarah Shourd, one of the three hikers, who is now married to fellow hiker Shane Bauer; Fattal was best man at their wedding in May. She was released after 140 days in solitary confinement; Fattal and Bauer had to wait another year for freedom.

An American woman who spent 410 days imprisoned in Iran praised its leaders Sunday for the "humanitarian gesture" of freeing her but expressed frustration at the continued detention of two companions, while Iran's president suggested the hikers could be bargaining chips in his tempestuous relationship with Washington. Sarah Shourd, 32, mixed political niceties with firm denials of guilt in her first extensive public comments since leaving Iran's Evin Prison on Sept. 14. She appeared alongside her mother, Nora, who held her daughter's hand as they walked into a conference room in a Manhattan hotel after flying to the United States.

Two years ago, Californian and citizen of the world Sarah Shourd was released from prison in Iran after an intense international campaign to free her. A bit more than a year later, that effort, including pressure from the State Department, Oman (the "Switzerland of the Middle East") and even Iraq and Venezuela, also won the release of Shourd's then-fiance, Shane Bauer, and their friend, Josh Fattal. The three Americans had been hiking in 2009 in Iraqi Kurdistan when they were snatched at the Iranian border and accused of spying.

When Sarah Shourd, one of three Americans arrested and held without formal charges in an Iranian prison for more than a year, was finally released last month, people hoped that her two companions, Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal, would soon be released as well. But Iran seldom works in logical ways. Almost from the day the three Americans were arrested while hiking along the Iran-Iraq border in Iraqi Kurdistan, the government has been divided over what to do with them. The hikers were first accused of illegal entry, and then espionage, a charge Iranian officials toss about freely.

Iran's judiciary has blocked the planned release of one of three Americans held in Tehran's Evin Prison since last year, a news agency quoted a powerful official as saying late Friday. Iran's semiofficial Iranian Labor News Agency quoted Tehran's chief prosecutor, Abbas Jaafari Dowlatabadi, as saying the "legal procedure" to secure the release of 32-year-old Sarah Shourd was not yet complete. Shourd and two friends, Joshua Fattal and Shane Bauer, were arrested July 31, 2009, after allegedly straying into Iranian territory during a hiking trip in Iraq's Kurdistan region.

An American woman, one of three U.S. hikers jailed in Iran last year after possibly straying into Iranian territory, will be released Saturday, an Iranian official said Thursday. Friends and relatives say Joshua Fattal, Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd were on a hiking trip in the scenic mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan near the Iranian border July 31, 2009, when they may have strayed inadvertently into Iranian territory. They were detained by Iranian forces and have been locked up in Tehran's infamous Evin Prison.

During the nearly 14 months Sarah Shourd spent in an Iranian prison cell, she went on a hunger strike four times. It was the only way she had to protest her prolonged detention. On Friday, she fasted again, this time in solidarity with the two fellow UC Berkeley graduates left behind in Tehran's Evin Prison when she was freed in September on $500,000 bail: her fiance, Shane Bauer, and their friend Joshua Fattal. "They have committed no crime," Shourd said between media appearances in Los Angeles to promote their cause.

Two years ago, Californian and citizen of the world Sarah Shourd was released from prison in Iran after an intense international campaign to free her. A bit more than a year later, that effort, including pressure from the State Department, Oman (the "Switzerland of the Middle East") and even Iraq and Venezuela, also won the release of Shourd's then-fiance, Shane Bauer, and their friend, Josh Fattal. The three Americans had been hiking in 2009 in Iraqi Kurdistan when they were snatched at the Iranian border and accused of spying.

Iranian authorities sentenced two Americans arrested and detained along the Iran-Iraq border to eight years in prison, state television cited an unnamed judicial source as saying on Saturday. The men, who have already been held in prison for more than two years in Iran, have 20 days to appeal their convictions on charges of illegal entry onto Iranian territory and espionage. Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal, both 28 years old, were arrested along the Iran-Iraq border during what they insist was an ill-fated hiking trip in the scenic mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan.

In a no-holds-barred statement, two Americans who spent 781 days in an Iranian prison on spying charges called themselves hostages of sour U.S.-Iranian relations and described the screams of prisoners being beaten, the mental manipulation of their jailers, and how they lived in "a world of lies and false hope" until their sudden release last week. Gone was the diplomacy and the words of gratitude to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that marked the statements from their fellow prisoner Sarah Shourd one year ago, when she was freed after 410 days in prison ahead of companions Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal.

The release of two American hikers convicted of spying in Iran ended an international drama involving longtime foes, but was also emblematic of the infighting among Tehran's ruling elite that has led to questions about President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's grip on power. Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal, both 29-year-old graduates of UC Berkeley, were released Wednesday from Tehran's Evin Prison on a combined bail of $1 million. The Americans were handed over to the Swiss ambassador, who represents U.S. interests in Iran, and were flown to the Persian Gulf nation of Oman, a Washington ally that posted the bail and helped negotiate their release.

A bail offer for two Americans convicted of spying is still under review, Iran's powerful judiciary said Wednesday in a potentially embarrassing rejection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's prediction that their release could be in a matter of days. The statement by the hard-line judiciary appears to be a message that only its officials can set the timetables and conditions on any possible release and not the president, who is locked in a bitter power struggle with Iran's ruling clerics who control the courts.

Two American hikers held by Iran since 2009 will be released on bail in the coming days, Iran's president and the men's lawyer said Tuesday. Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal will be freed once bail of $500,000 each is paid, attorney Masoud Shafii said. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told NBC television's "Today" show that the men would be freed "in a couple of days. " Bauer and Fattal, both 29-year-old graduates of UC Berkeley, were sentenced last month to eight years in prison for espionage and illegal entry.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called again for the immediate release of two American hikers who were sentenced to eight years in prison in Iran, saying the U.S. is "deeply disappointed" by the sentence. Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal have been held in Iranian prison for more than two years on charges of espionage and illegally entering Iranian territory. They were sentenced to three years for illegal entry and five years for espionage. "We are deeply disappointed that Iranian judicial authorities have sentenced Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal to 8 years in prison," Clinton said in a statement released Sunday morning.

Iranian authorities imposed a harsh, eight-year sentence on two Americans arrested along the border with Iraq in 2009, state television cited an unnamed judicial source as saying Saturday, in a stunning verdict that could further strain relations between Washington and Tehran. Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal, who have already been held in Tehran's infamous Evin Prison for two years, have 20 days to appeal their convictions on charges of illegal entry into Iranian territory and espionage.

The saga of the three American hikers snatched by Iranian border guards along the Iran-Iraq border in 2009 and accused of spying and illegal entry held the world's attention for more than two years. Now, one year after he was released from an Iranian prison, Joshua Fattal, a teacher and environmentalist, will be a guest here at Yom Kippur services at the arts synagogue, the Beverly Hills Temple of the Arts-Saban Theatre, on Sept. 26. In my column last week, I spoke to Sarah Shourd, one of the three hikers, who is now married to fellow hiker Shane Bauer; Fattal was best man at their wedding in May. She was released after 140 days in solitary confinement; Fattal and Bauer had to wait another year for freedom.

In a no-holds-barred statement, two Americans who spent 781 days in an Iranian prison on spying charges called themselves hostages of sour U.S.-Iranian relations and described the screams of prisoners being beaten, the mental manipulation of their jailers, and how they lived in "a world of lies and false hope" until their sudden release last week. Gone was the diplomacy and the words of gratitude to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that marked the statements from their fellow prisoner Sarah Shourd one year ago, when she was freed after 410 days in prison ahead of companions Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal.

Iranian authorities sentenced two Americans arrested and detained along the Iran-Iraq border to eight years in prison, state television cited an unnamed judicial source as saying on Saturday. The men, who have already been held in prison for more than two years in Iran, have 20 days to appeal their convictions on charges of illegal entry onto Iranian territory and espionage. Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal, both 28 years old, were arrested along the Iran-Iraq border during what they insist was an ill-fated hiking trip in the scenic mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Iranian authorities will announce a verdict and sentence within days in the case of two U.S. hikers arrested two years ago near an unmarked section of the Iran-Iraq border, their lawyer and court officials said Sunday after what appeared to be the final court hearing in the case. On the anniversary of their July 31, 2009, arrest, Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal spent four hours at a hearing at the Tehran Revolutionary Court, where they face charges of espionage and trespassing. "The last session was held," Iranian judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei was quoted as saying by the state-owned Al Alam television channel.