Iran jails American hikers for 8 years, state TV says
A picture released by Iran’s state-run Press TV shows US hikers Shane Bauer (L) and Josh Fattal (C), detained in Iran on spying charges, sitting next to an unidentified translator during the first session of their trial at the Tehran Revolutionary Court in the Iranian capital on February 6, 2011, more than 18 months after their arrest on the unmarked border with Iraq during a hiking trip. On August 20, 2011 Iran state media reported that Bauer and Fattal were each sentenced to eight years in jail for spying and illegally entering Iran.
Two American hikers arrested in Iran and accused of spying and illegally entering the country have been jailed for eight years by a Tehran court, Iranian state TV reports.
Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, both 28 years old, have each been sentenced to three years for illegally entering Iran, and five years for spying, according to the website for Iran's state TV network.
Their fellow hiker Sarah Shourd was released on bail last September for health reasons, and returned to the United States. She did not return to Iran for the trial, even though Iran said she would forfeit the $500,000 bail.
Bauer and Fattal deny the charges, saying they unknowingly crossed over the border into Iran while hiking in Iraqi Kurdistan in July 2009. They were arrested by Iranian soldiers.
The two men have 20 days to appeal their sentence. They have pleaded not guilty to the charges, and Shourd pleaded not guilty in absentia.
Washington said the charges against the U.S. hikers in Iran are totally unfounded and Bauer and Fattal should be released, CBS News says.
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Shourd said in May she suffered from post-traumatic stress and a return to Iran for the trial would be "too traumatic."
The trial began in February, and ended July 31, the second anniversary of their arrest.
A report on the Iranian state TV website said "the case of Sarah Shourd, who has been freed on bail, is still open," according to Agence France-Presse.
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