Iran sets February trial date for 3 Americans
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
By Nasser Karimi, Associated Press
Tehran, Iran (AP) - Iran has set a Feb. 6 trial date for three Americans arrested more than a year ago along the Iraqi border and charged with spying, their lawyer said Sunday.
The trial was to have started on Nov. 6, but authorities said they delayed it because one of the Americans, who was freed on bail, had not been summoned to return to the country to appear in court.
The case is among the many points of confrontation between Iran and the United States, which has repeatedly appealed for the Americans to be released.
Turn Up Your Support
MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all.
Their lawyer, Masoud Shafiei, said he received an official notification Sunday of the new trial date.
Sarah Shourd was freed in September and returned to the United States. Her fiance, Shane Bauer, and their friend Josh Fattal remain in prison.
Shourd and their families have denied they did anything wrong. After her release, Shourd said they were hiking in a scenic and relatively peaceful part of northern Iraq and inadvertently crossed an unmarked border with Iran when they were arrested in July 2009.
Iranian authorities said they freed Shourd as a humanitarian gesture because of unspecified health concerns, though the woman has since said her health is fine.
Iran warned that it will seize the $500,000 bail posted by Shourd if she does not return for trial.
The 32-year-old Shourd, from Oakland, California, has not disclosed any plans to return to Iran.
She said in an interview published Oct. 31 in The New York Times that the three stepped off an unmarked dirt road and inadvertently crossed from Iraq only because a border guard of unknown nationality gestured for them to approach.
Initially, Iran accused them only of illegally crossing the border. Later, the espionage charges were added, but authorities have given few details to support the accusations.
Tehran's chief prosecutor, Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi, said in September that the Americans had "equipment and documents and received training." He did not elaborate.
"They did not come to Iraq and Iran for entertainment," Dowlatabadi was quoted as saying then by the official IRNA news agency.
Shafiei said Sunday that the judge in the case has refused to allow him to meet with Bauer and Fattal - both 28 - to prepare for the trial.
"He replied, 'You will meet them on the day of the trial,"' Shafiei told The Associated Press. "I need to meet them to prepare my defense letter."
Samantha Topping, a spokeswoman for the families of the Americans, said Sunday they had no immediate comment on the announcement of a new trial date.
The three Americans are graduates of the University of California at Berkeley. Shourd and Bauer had been living together in Damascus, Syria, where Bauer was working as a freelance journalist and Shourd as an English teacher. Fattal, an environmental activist, went to visit them in July 2009.
Bauer is a native of Onamia, Minnesota, and Fattal grew up in Pennsylvania.
---
Patrick Condon contributed to this report from Minneapolis.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
