TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran said yesterday it will free on bail one of three Americans accused of espionage and held for more than a year, a day after her planned release was unexpectedly halted by the judiciary.
The Tehran prosecutor told state television yesterday that Sarah Shourd would be freed on $500,000 bail and permitted to leave the country. Shourd was detained near Iran’s border with Iraq at the end of July 2009 along with two male companions, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal. Their families say the three were on a mountain hike in northern Iraq at the time.
Officials said last week Shourd would be freed yesterrday, but Iran’s judiciary suspended her release at the last minute, saying the legal process had not been completed. The delay could indicate a rift among Iran’s hardline rulers.
“The American spy can be released as soon as her $500,000 bail is deposited … She is not barred from leaving Iran but has to appear in the court at trial time,” Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said.
The detention decree of the other two had been extended, he added: “The other two American hikers will remain in jail.”
A lawyer representing the three, Masoud Shafie, said the Americans had attended court earlier yesterday and presented their final defences. The prosecutor could now present his indictment, which would precede a trial.
David Axelrod, U.S. President Barack Obama’s chief political adviser, said: “We’re hopeful and we’re encouraged by this news (of Shourd’s release) but there have been starts and stops in this before, and until that actually happens we’re on a wait and see basis …
“They (all three detainees) should never have been in jail in the first place. They’re being held under false pretences and they should be released, and we’re working very hard to see that that happens,” Axelrod said on NBC’s “Meet the Press”.
