Iran to try three American hikers who crossed border
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki did not say when proceedings would begin or specify the charge other than to say the Americans had “suspicious aims.” In November, however, authorities accused the Americans of spying.
There are concerns in the US that Iran could use them as bargaining chips in talks over its nuclear programme or in seeking the return of Iranians they say are missing.
Relatives and the US government say the three were innocent tourists on anadventure hike in northern Iraq and accidentally crossed into Iran, where they were arrested on July 31.
“They will be tried by Iran’s judiciary system and verdicts will be issued,” Mottaki said at a news conference, without elaborating in detail. He said the three people were still being interrogated.
The Americans – Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27 – were detained by Iranian authorities after crossing an unmarked border from northern Iraq.
They have been held in Iran’s Evin prison, where Swiss diplomats have visited them twice and said they are healthy. Because the US and Iran do not have direct diplomatic relations, the Swiss Embassy maintains an American interests section.
The three graduates of the University of California at Berkeley had been trekking in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region, their relatives say.
Bauer and Shourd had been living in Damascus, Syria – he studying Arabic, she teaching English – and both had done freelance journalism or writing online. Friends have described them as passionate adventurers interested in the Middle East and human rights.
Fattal had been overseas since January as a teaching assistant with the International Honours Programme.
Fattal’s mother, Laura, declined to comment on yesterday’s announcement.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called for their release, saying Washington strongly believes there is no evidence to support any charge against them.
In November, Tehran chief prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi said the three “have been accused of espionage.” But it was not clear from his brief comments whether formal charges had been filed against them.
Raising concerns that Iran might be seeking to use them in a deal, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said during remarks about their case last month that the United States was holding several Iranian citizens.
In particular, he drew a link between the case of the three Americans and thetrial in the US of Amir Hossein Ardebili, an Iranian who faces up to 140 years in prison after pleading guilty to plotting to ship sensitive US military technology to Iran.
