Sarah Shourd and Shane Bauer, US hikers jailed in Iran for spying, marry in California
American hiker Josh Fattal (C) is greeted on September 21, 2011 in Muscat, Oman, after Tehran released him and Shane Bauer on bail, months after handing them an eight year jail term. The pair was released earlier September 21, 2011 from Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, after more than two years in jail for spying and illegal entry into Iran, after the Gulf sultanate of Oman paid their bail.
Sarah Shourd and Shane Bauer, the American hikers detained and accused of spying after hiking near the Iraq-Iran border three years ago, have married in California.
Shourd, Bauer and Josh Fattal, all University of California, Berkeley graduates, were captured on July 31, 2009 after straying over the border into Iran from Iraq during a walking holiday.
The friends said they were innocent of spying and if they had crossed into Iran, it had been by accident, according to Australia's ABC.
However they were each sentenced by Iranian authorities to eight years in prison for spying.
Shourd, who got engaged to Bauer in prison in Iran, using a shirt thread as a ring, was freed after 14 months, while Bauer and Fattal were released in September last year.
More from GlobalPost: Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal freed by Iran
The wedding ceremony held at an undisclosed location, San Francisco attorney and family friend Ben Rosenfeld told the Associated Press.
Fattal was best man.
In a statement on the Free the Hikers Facebook page, Shourd said: "Now that this day has come, all I can do is close my eyes and fill with gratitude, for our freedom, for the love of so many generous people around the world, and for the very soil under my feet."
In a separate message, cited by ABC, Bauer wrote: "Becoming engaged to Sarah while we were in captivity allowed me to dream of a future that was not only secure, but also beautiful."
The couple is now on honeymoon.
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