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Families and friends insist the three were hiking in a mountainous border region in northern Iraq when they unintentionally strayed into Iran. |
TEHRAN – Iran pressed espionage charges on Monday, November 9, against three Americans who crossed into the country on July 31, angering Washington which insists the accusations are unfounded.
"The three Americans arrested near the border of Iran and Iraq are facing charges of spying and the inquiry is continuing," Tehran chief prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said in an interview with the official IRNA news agency.
He added that the investigations were continuing against Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27.
It is not clear from his comments whether formal charges had been filed.
The three were taken into custody by Iranian guards near the border with Iraq on July 31.
The Americans entered northern Iraq from Turkey on July 28 during a planned five-day hike.
Bauer and Shourd had been living in Damascus, Syria, while Fattal was visiting.
They set out to hike in northern Iraq's Kurdistan region.
Some Iranian officials have linked their illegal entry to unrest that erupted after the June presidential election.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election on June 12, sparked Iran's worst unrest since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Authorities portrayed the unrest as a foreign-backed bid to undermine the Islamic state.
But the families and friends of the three American insist they were hiking in a mountainous border region in northern Iraq near a famous waterfall when they unintentionally strayed into Iran.
They say it was a "regrettable mistake" that the trio strayed into Iran and have set up a website to campaign for their release.
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| "We believe strongly that there is no evidence to support any charge whatsoever," Clinton said. (Reuters) |
Ungrounded
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized the move and renewed calls for Iran to free the three Americans.
"We believe strongly that there is no evidence to support any charge whatsoever," she said on a visit to Berlin.
"And we would renew our request on behalf of these three young people and their families that the Iranian government exercise compassion and release them so they can return home, and we will continue to make that case."
Clinton met their families last week, promising that the US was "exploring every angle" to secure their freedom.
Swiss diplomats, who represent US interests in Iran, were allowed to meet the trio in late September for the first time since their arrest.
The US and Iran has not had diplomatic relations since shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Under Iranian laws, espionage is punishable by death.
Ahmadinejad said in September that he could ask the judiciary to "take a look at the case with maximum leniency."
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