American hikers in Iran could be set free in a week, lawyer says
Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, seen here in a file photo, have been detained in Iran for nearly two years.
July 31st, 2011
09:02 AM ET

American hikers in Iran could be set free in a week, lawyer says

An Iranian court is scheduled to issue a verdict within a week in the case of two American hikers detained in Iran, the hikers' lawyer Sunday.

Attorney Masoud Shafiei said Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer are innocent of charges that they illegally entered Iran as spies. The lawyer reiterated at a hearing Sunday that the Americans have maintained their innocence throughout months of imprisonment.

If the court reaches a guilty verdict, Shafiei said the time the two have spent in Iranian custody is enough.

"I believe that even if the court finds my clients guilty, the two years that they have already served in prison would be considered as their sentence and they would be released," he said. Sunday's hearing occurred two years to the date of their arrest while hiking near the country's border with Iraq.

Fattal and Bauer could be freed within a week of a court order, according to the lawyer.

"My clients should not be considered spies, because they lack the characteristics and backgrounds of spies," he said. The lawyer said he hoped his "clients will be dealt with according to Islamic compassion," given that their hearing falls on the second anniversary of their arrest and at the start of the holy month of Ramadan, the Iranian Students News Agency reported.

Read the full story on CNN.com, an opinion piece by journalist Lara Ling who was detained in North Korea, or learn about how the mothers of the hikers have struggled with their sons' long detainment.

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Filed under: Iran
soundoff (70 Responses)
  1. RUFFNUTT

    This would be very good news if true. Even if these guys do get released, the right-wing thugs in Washington will still rant against the Iranians as always. They want Iran's oil and that's all there is to it!

    July 31, 2011 at 6:09 pm | Report abuse |
    • Joey Isotta-Fraschini

      So very true, RUFFNUTT. Too bad that most people are just too ignorant to see that!

      July 31, 2011 at 9:55 pm | Report abuse |
    • RUFFNUTT

      @fakey... we need that oil!! my camaro leaks real bad..

      August 1, 2011 at 10:16 am | Report abuse |
  2. Me

    Why are the hikers staring at me? Do they think I can help them through my cell phone? Creepy...

    August 1, 2011 at 12:50 am | Report abuse |
  3. Ed Peterson

    numerology for Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal:

    http://edpetersonnumerology.com/2011/08/01/numerology-for-shane-bauer-and-josh-fattal/

    August 1, 2011 at 9:40 am | Report abuse |
  4. Avser Bastian

    GOVERNMENT "AFTERLIFE" FLASH MOB OR REAL SHOOTING IN UTOYA, NORWAY !!? stateofterror.blogspot.com/ or stateofterror.wordpress.com/ TEARS OF SORROW AND PAIN ON FACES OF MOURNERS OR TEAR GAS AND THEATER/HYPOCRISY ON FACES OF MULTICULTURALISM MANIACS !!? NORWEGIAN OSLO POLICE or COMMUNIST/LIBERAL CRIMINALS IN BLUE UNIFORMS WHO WERE PREPARING FOR TERROR AGAINST NORWAY ALREADY HALF DECADE AHEAD !!? No doubt about bombing in Oslo, but what about shooting in Utoya which was no different from the one in Arizona !!!? WILL THERE BE OBAMINATOR MORALES'S APOCALYPSE NOW OR TOTAL WAR AGAINST NEW WORLD ORDER(multiculturalism) !!? STOLTENBERG = BREIVIK(90 minutes vs 30 and for government vehicles or police even 20 minutes the most) !!!

    DICTATOR OBAMA = STALIN = BUSH or USA = SOVIET UNION http://avsecbostjan.blogspot.com/ or http://avsecbostjan.wordpress.com/

    COMMUNISM(Slowenien/Slovenia) IN CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE TODAY(2011) !!! http://sloveniatoday.blogspot.com or http://easterneuropetoday.wordpress.com/

    August 2, 2011 at 3:42 am | Report abuse |
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