Iran 'To Free Jailed American Hiker On ($500,000) Bail'

[Turborama]

Source: Sky News

Sunday 12 September, 2010 -

Iran was ready to release an American woman hiker on bail of $500,000, reports have said.

Sarah Shourd has been in custody for a year, accused of illegally crossing the border between Iraq and Iran in July 2009.

She and fellow Americans Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal were arrested and also charged with spying. Their families have said the three were hiking in northern Iraq and if they crossed the border, they did so unwittingly.

=snip=

Now, Iranian TV has reported that a senior prosecutor was ready to release the American woman on $500,000 (£325,700) bail. English language Press TV quoted Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi as saying: "The American spy could be released on $500,000 bail. "She is not barred from leaving Iran... The other two detained American hikers will remain in jail."

More to follow...

Read more: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Sarah-Shourd-Iran-Ready-To-Release-American-Hiker-On-Bail/Article/201009215725563?lpos=World_News_Carousel_Region_3&lid=ARTICLE_15725563_Sarah_Shourd:_Iran_Ready_To_Release_American_Hiker_On_Bail

[Art_from_Ark]

1. Sounds like extortion to me

Or legal kidnapping

[David__77]

2. Well they did cause a lot of problems by violating the border.

This has been an expensive matter for Iran as well. It is hardly as if these prisoners are being kept in normal prison conditions. On the contrary, they have it much better.

I am NOT saying Iran should not have sought to try them or resolve this more quickly - it should have.

One of my old friends was the fourth person with them who stayed behind at the hotel. I am sympathetic, but I do believe they knew exactly what they were doing, and they paid the price. Violating borders is of states can be a serious thing. These three are not spies, or, at least I don't think so. But how is Iran to protect its frontier?

[Art_from_Ark]

3. The problem is, borders in that part of the world are iffy

It's not like the US-Canada border, or the US-Mexico border. There are many cases around the world where two countries claim jurisdiction over the same border area. I can see how these hikers might have believed they were in Iraq when they were actually in Iran. Or maybe they were still in Iraq but the Iranians decided they were actually in Iran. At any rate, the usual penalty for this is a deportation, not a $500,000 ransom.

[David__77]

5. But...

for the very reason that it's NOT like the US-Canada border, for instance, the "usual penalty" does not apply. And especially since they from countries with a stated policy of "regime change." One has to be very careful around such borders. Ideally, diplomatic relations would have restored under Clinton oh so long ago, and we'd be in a very different situation right now, as would the people of Iran.

[Freddie Stubbs]

6. Who in their right mind would go to Iraq to hike?

[CJvR]

4. Why are...

...people stupid enough to linger around borders of paranoid totalitarian nations?

It is not a good idea! How many morons must be marched of at gunpoint for that to sink in?

[prolesunited]

7. I love how they call it bail,

not ransom. I hope this woman is able to get the treatment she needs.

[slackmaster]

8. Ransom, not bail

:argh: