Sarah Shourd

The story of Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal and Sarah Shourd, the American hikers who in July 2009 crossed the border — inadvertently, all evidence suggests — from Iraqi Kurdistan into Iran and were imprisoned for espionage, is back in the headlines. Shourd, who was released in September on humanitarian grounds and after paying $500,000 in bail, has been promoting a "rolling hunger strike" to remind us that Bauer and Fattal remain in Tehran's Evin Prison without a trial date or access to their lawyer.

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.

There were days when Sarah Shourd couldn't bring herself to get out of bed. She didn't eat. She wanted to disappear. But even in the most difficult moments, alone in an Iranian prison cell, her mind would drift back to her mother. "I just knew that I had to pick myself up, and I had to go on, and I had to be strong for her," Shourd says in a 25-minute film in which she offers new details about her 410 days in Tehran's Evin Prison. Her mother, Nora, was at her side late last month when the 32-year-old American visited USC for a screening of "Free Shane and Josh: An Urgent Plea for Compassion.

Confusion continued to surround the fate of a woman described as an American spy Saturday by a high-ranking Iranian security official who said she had been arrested. The U.S. State Department, however, denied the woman was in Iranian custody. Iranian Brig. Gen. Amir-Ahmad Geravand of the national border police first told reporters that a 34-year-old American woman named Hal Talaian had been arrested Wednesday near the town of Jolfa along the Iran-Azerbaijan border, state-controlled Al Alam television and the semiofficial Fars News Agency reported.

A high-ranking Iranian security official confirmed reports of the arrest of a woman described as an American spy, state media reported, but her nationality remained in question Saturday. Brig. Gen. Amir-Ahmad Geravand of the national border police first told reporters that a 34-year-old American woman named Hal Talaian had been arrested near the town of Jolfa along the Iran-Azerbaijan border, state-controlled Al Alam television and the semiofficial Fars News Agency reported. But in a later radio interview, Geravand hedged his remarks on her nationality.

Two Americans held in an Iranian prison on espionage charges will not have a chance to defend themselves in court for at least 2 1/2 more months, their lawyer said Sunday. Masoud Shafii, the lawyer for Americans Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal, said he received a letter from Revolutionary Court Judge Abolqasem Salavati informing him the court date for the two, originally scheduled for earlier this month, had been postponed until Feb. 6. Shafii said he was disappointed by the decision.

An Orange County Iranian American businessman was released from prison Saturday after 30 months behind bars, family members have confirmed. Reza Taghavi, 71, left Tehran's notorious Evin Prison and reportedly plans to return to California within a week. The Tustin resident was never formally charged or tried but was accused of passing $200 to a monarchist group called Tondar, which Iran says has been behind terrorist attacks. Taghavi said he gave the money unknowingly. Taghavi's relatives in Tustin and the San Fernando Valley declined to comment Saturday, saying they didn't want to say anything until he was safely out of Iran.

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.