The Iranian court considering the case of three US citizens accused of
espionage postponed the trial until February 6, lawyer Masud Shafei
said on Sunday, Trend reports, citing Associated Press.
The trial was postponed from November 6 due to the absence of Sarah
Shourd in the country after she was release on bail in September. Her
finance Shane Bauer and their friend Josh Fattal remain in an Iranian
prison.
They deny the charges. Shourd, 32, said in July 2009 that they were
visiting northern Iraq and accidentally crossed a non-marked border
with Iran because border guards of an unknown nationality asked them
to come up to them. They were then arrested.
The Iranian authorities said that Shourd was released due to her poor
health, though she was insisting that she was feeling well. Iran said
that the $500,000 dollars put up as bail will be confiscated if she
does not return.
Shourd of Oakland, State California, has not spoken about her plans to
return to Iran.
At first Iran accused the US citizens of illegal border crossing, then
of espionage.
The chief prosecutor of Tehran Abbas Jafari Dovletabadi said that the
US citizens had devices, documents and training. He did not give
details.
A family member of the citizens, Samantha Topping, said that they
cannot comment on the new trial date.
The three US citizens are graduates from the Berkeley University in of
California. Shourd and Bauer lived together in Damascus, Syria, where
Bauer was working as an independent journalist, Shourd was an English
teacher. Fattal was an ecology activist who arrived in July 2009.
Bauer was born in Onamia, State Minnesota, and grew up in Pennsylvania.
