Months after her release from an Iranian prison, U.S. citizen Sarah Shourd tells Democracy Now! in a May 5 interview that she will not return to Tehran next week to face espionage charges. Shourd was jailed for 14 months after she and friends, Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, were detained by Iranian forces on July 31, 2009, for allegedly hiking across the Iraqi border into Iran. The trial for Bauer—who is now Shourd's fiancé—and Fattal begins May 11. Shourd had planned to return to Iran, but has cancelled her trip because she is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
For the video/audio podcast, transcript, and for Democracy Now!'s news archive with additional reports about the imprisoned hikers, visit
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