Branch 36 of Tehran's Appeals Court has agreed to commuted the detention sentences of the two US nationals to release on a total bail of USD 1,000,000, a statement released by Iran's Judiciary said on Wednesday.Shane Michael Bauer and Joshua Felix Fattal had earlier been sentenced by Branch 15 of Tehran's Revolution Court to eight years in prison on charges of illegal entry and espionage.Sarah Emily Shourd, who had also been detained along with Bauer and Fattal, was released in September 2010 on a USD500,000 bail.Bauer, Fattal and Shourd were arrested on Iranian territory in July 2009 after illegally crossing the border from the mountains of northern Iraq's Kurdistan region.They were later charged with espionage after the Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi found "compelling evidence" that the three US citizens had been cooperating with US intelligence agencies.MAB/HGH
– After being jailed for more than two years, American hikers Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal walked out of Evin prison free men this morning, confirms Iranian state television. Their lawyer had said earlier that they would be released within hours, after a vacationing judge returned and the second signature needed to free them on $1 million bail was secured. In a statement quoted on a semi-official Iranian news agency, the country’s judiciary confirmed the bail request had been “accepted,” reports the Washington Post.