Iran to release 1 of 3 jailed american hikers

[Amby 490]

(AP) Iran said it will free one of three Americans jailed for more than a year on Saturday in a clemency to mark the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

The Culture Ministry sent a text message to reporters telling them to come to a Tehran hotel to witness the release. It is the same hotel where the three were allowed the only meeting with their mothers since they were detained in July 2009.

"Offering congratulations on Eid al-Fitr," the message said referring to the holiday marking the end of the fasting month. "The release of one of the detained Americans will be at Saturday, 9 a.m. at the Estaghlal hotel." It is common in the Islamic world to mark the Eid al-Fitr holiday by showing clemency and releasing prisoners.

It did not say which one would be released. But Sarah Shourd, 31, has told her mother she has serious medical problems.

Shourd's mother said her daughter told her in a telephone call in August that prison officials have denied her requests for medical treatment. The mother said they talked about her daughter's medical problems, including a breast lump and precancerous cervical cells, and her solitary confinement in Tehran's Evin prison.

In Washington, the State Department said it was aware of reports that one of the three would be freed but could not confirm them. The United States has no diplomatic presence in Iran and one department official said there had not yet been any word about a possible release from the Swiss embassy in Tehran, which represents U.S. interests in the country.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the U.S. "would obviously welcome the release of one of the hikers" but stressed that Washington has long been calling for the release of all three on humanitarian grounds.

Ali Reza Shiravi, the head of Iran's foreign media office at the Culture Ministry, confirmed that he had sent the message summoning reports to the hotel.

The high-rise Estaghlal hotel near Evin prison is where the three Americans' mothers were allowed to visit them in May in a highly publicized trip.

The detained Americans — Shourd; her boyfriend, Shane Bauer, 27; and their friend Josh Fattal, 27 — have been held in Iran since July 2009, when they were arrested along the Iraqi border.

Iran has accused them of espionage; their families say that the three were hiking in Iraq's largely peaceful mountainous northern Kurdish region and that if they crossed the border, it was accidental.

Their detention has become entangled in the confrontation between the United States and Iran. Iranian leaders have repeatedly suggested a link between their jailing and that of a number of Iranians by the United States whose release Tehran demands.

Nora Shourd, the mother of Sarah Shourd, said Thursday morning that the U.S.-based families of the hikers had seen the news reports out of Iran but had no idea if they were true or not.

"We don't know anything," Shourd told the AP. "We're trying like crazy to see what we can find out. I hope it's true — that's all I can say for sure. But I don't know if it is."

Nora Shourd had the last contact with any of the three jailed Americans, when Sarah called her on Aug. 2 and the two spoke for three or four minutes.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/09/09/national/main6849806.shtml

[Amby 490]

they decided they won't release her now

Iran on Friday postponed the planned release of an American woman jailed along with two friends for more than a year, state media reported, dealing a blow to the hopes of three U.S. mothers who have pleaded for the trio's release.

Iranian officials had said that Sarah Shourd, who was detained with her friends near Iran's border with Iraq, would be released on Saturday. But the IRNA state news agency quoted the deputy chief of communication for the Iranian president's office, Mohammed Hassan Salilhimaram, as saying that would not happen.

He said details of the decision would be announced later, but Tehran's chief prosecutor, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, blamed the fact that "judicial procedures have not been done," according to the semiofficial ILNA news agency.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/09/10/iran-reportedly-cancels-release-detained-american-612718973/?test=latestnews

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Iran sucks. Time to take them out.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

These three are not 'jailed' they are hostages.

[Ban Hammer 13,469]

These three are not 'jailed' they are hostages.

pretty much.

[twowls 217]

This is horrible, but why hike on the border of Iran? I feel like I sound like the conservatives on this board, but honestly. I'm not going for tea around the North Korean border. #######*ckingF? What am I missing? Why would you do that?

There are some straight barbaric countries. Steer the #### clear. There are other mountains.

[Amby 490]

This is horrible, but why hike on the border of Iran? I feel like I sound like the conservatives on this board, but honestly. I'm not going for tea around the North Korean border. #######*ckingF? What am I missing? Why would you do that?

There are some straight barbaric countries. Steer the #### clear. There are other mountains.

That's what I was thinking last year when they were jailed. What makes someone decide they're going to go hiking along the Iraq/Iran border?

[Ban Hammer 13,469]

That's what I was thinking last year when they were jailed. What makes someone decide they're going to go hiking along the Iraq/Iran border?

probably the guys refused to ask for directions.

[IncorrectPolitics 26]

That's what I was thinking last year when they were jailed. What makes someone decide they're going to go hiking along the Iraq/Iran border?

Do they have to be executed before being nominated for the Darwin Awards?

[Amby 490]

I just went to the website to see if there was any info on there about why they decided to go hiking there. The girl and one of the guys was living in Syria. The girl was teaching English there and the guy was a freelance journalist. They had traveled and lived all over together since they graduated from college. The third guy was doing some international honors teaching trip when he decided to take a break from his travels and visit his college friends in Syria. It didn't say why they thought hiking in that area was a good idea. The site is freethehikers.org

[Amby 490]

now they're going to release her on bail?

A senior Iranian prosecutor said Sunday that authorities will release a jailed American woman on $500,000 bail because of health problems, another sudden about-face by Iran in a case that has added to tension with the United States.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/09/12/iranian-prosecutor-says-hes-ready-release-jailed-american-woman-bail/?test=latestnews

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

This is horrible, but why hike on the border of Iran? I feel like I sound like the conservatives on this board, but honestly. I'm not going for tea around the North Korean border. #######*ckingF? What am I missing? Why would you do that?

There are some straight barbaric countries. Steer the #### clear. There are other mountains.

Agreed. Those three should do another year in an Iranian prison just for being idiots. Let them rot for another year and then see if they want to take anymore strolls near a country like Iran or North Korea.

[Amby 490]

Tehran, Iran (CNN) -- American Sarah Shourd left Iran Tuesday after Iranian authorities freed her from the Iranian prison where she has been held since July 2009, her lawyer told CNN.

Masoud Shafii said he was with a smiling Shourd when she was released from Evin Prison late Tuesday afternoon and that bail had been posted.

She was handed over to Swiss authorities. The United States and Iran do not have formal relations, and Switzerland serves as the "protecting power" for Washington in Tehran.

Shourd, wearing a red head scarf, did not have any belongings with her, Shafii said. Her release was bittersweet because she was leaving behind companions Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal. Shourd told Shaffi she wished all three were walking out together.

Iranian prison officials who processed her release gathered to say goodbye to her and wish her well, Shaffi said. One official told her he hoped never to see her again in the notorious Tehran prison.

Shroud was heading to Oman, where her bail was posted, according to Iranian state-run media. The bail had been set at $500,000.

Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi told Iran's Press TV that Shourd's "representatives" paid her bail to an Iranian bank in Muscat, Oman, after which a judge ordered her release.

Shourd left Iran later Tuesday on a chartered flight to Muscat, Oman, the Swiss ambassador said.

Shourd, 32, was detained along with fellow U.S. citizens Bauer, 28, and Fattal, 28, after they allegedly strayed across an unmarked border into Iran while hiking in Iraq's Kurdistan region. Iran accused the three of spying, a charge the United States denies.

Dolatabadi said Tuesday that Bauer, who is Shourd's fiance, and Fattal will remain in jail until their trial. The official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported that the detention for the two Americans had been extended by two months.

Iran had said Shourd would be freed once the $500,000 bail was paid. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley made it clear Washington would play no role in paying the bail.

A judge decided to allow Shourd to be released on bail because of her medical condition, IRNA said Sunday, citing Dolatabadi. Shourd had a pre-existing gynecological problem, and her family says she now also has a lump in her breast, according to Shafii.

Iranian officials have apparently changed their stance on Shourd's release several times since last week. Iranian officials had announced Thursday that Shourd would be released on Saturday, at the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

But state media announced Friday that the release had been called off because legal procedures had not yet been resolved.

Some analysts said it was not a coincidence that Shourd's release comes as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is about to attend the U.N. General Assembly's meeting later this month.

"I think President Ahmadinejad really wanted to use this as a way of building up a store of goodwill just before he comes to New York," said Gary Sick, a professor at Columbia University and a former National Security Council Iran analyst.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/09/14/iran.detained.american/index.html?hpt=T2

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

They are just confused liberals thinking they could solve the world's problems by hugging Ahmadinejad.

[daboyz 36]

$500k? Nothing less than state sponsored kidnapping and extortion. I guess they'll get the funds frozen in US banks one way or another.