American Hikers Are Released from Iran Prison
Updated: Two American hikers convicted of spying in Iran have been freed from prison.
Bail was posted today on behalf of hikers Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, report CNN and the Washington Post. The two men apparently left the prison in a motorcade, report CBS News and the Associated Press. Later in the day, they were on a plane and bound for Oman, CNN reports.
Bauer and Fattal were arrested in July 2009 after they crossed the border into Iran while hiking in Iraq. They denied they were spying. A third hiker, Sarah Shourd, was released on bail in September and returned to the United States.
The government of Oman reportedly paid the bail, which was $500,000 for each man.
Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said last week that he was granting a “unilateral pardon” to the hikers as a humanitarian gesture. Iran’s judiciary had protested afterward that the president did not have legal authority to release the men. News followed that bail had been granted, but it was being delayed because a judge who needed to sign the paperwork was away on vacation.
The men were released today after resolution of a last-minute technical snafu involving the transfer of bail money to the correct account, their Iranian lawyer told CBS.
Updated at 1:10 p.m. to report that the hikers are on their way to Oman.
