Iranian state television says two Americans detained in the country since 2009 have been sentenced to eight years in prison for spying and illegal entry.
Iranian TV's report Saturday quoted judicial sources as saying that Americans Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal each were given five-year prison sentences for spying and three additional years for illegal entry into the country.
The Americans involved in the case – the two men in prison and Sarah Shourd, a friend who was arrested with them – have always said they were hiking in the mountains of northern Iraq while on vacation. They have said they may have unknowingly crossed the unmarked border onto Iranian soil, but that they innocent of any other activities. The United States has repeatedly called for their immediate release.
Sarah Shourd was released on $500,000 bail last year, so she could seek medical treatment in the United States, and she has not returned to Tehran.
Requests for confirmation of the sentence handed down to Bauer and Fattal have not been answered by Iranian authorities. The United States says it is asking Swiss diplomats in Tehran, who represent U.S. interests there, to seek further information.
Diplomatic relations between the United States and Iran were severed after the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
The Iranian lawyer representing the two imprisoned American men, Masoud Shafiei, says authorities in Tehran have not notified him of any decision in the case since court sessions ended on July 31. The Iranian TV report of their sentencing did not indicate whether Bauer and Fattah would or could be given credit for the time they have already spent in jail.
The media report did say, however, that charges against Shourd “remain open,” and that Bauer and Fattah have 20 days in which to appeal their sentences.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the United States is once again calling on Iran to release Bauer and Fattal as a humanitarian gesture, since they have already been imprisoned far too long.
Earlier this month, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi had said he hoped Iran's judicial process would lead to the American prisoners' release.
