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Sunday, September 18, 2011

American hikers in Iran still waiting for release...and waiting...and waiting...

Everything is up in the air, no one really knows when( or truly if) Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal will see the light of freedom and breathe free air any time soon.  Iran might release them if we release Iranians in American jails, their lawyer suggested they are putting together $1M as a bail-for-freedom deal and everyone else has nothing positive to report.

Iran has no real pressure to release them, they can use them for any purpose they see fit, up to actually executing them.  Their propaganda value is unmatched, and Iran seems bent on using them until they are no longer a benefit for the Islamic republic.


From AP/Yahoo September 17 by Ali Akbar Dareini


Iran: Court to commute sentences for 2 Americans  

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's foreign minister said Saturday that the courts are willing in "the near future" to commute the prison sentences for two Americans convicted of spying. The Americans' lawyer, meanwhile, was in court trying to arrange a $1 million bail-for-freedom deal.

Not bail, but jizya money.
The release rests in the hands of the hard-line judiciary, and Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi gave no clear timetable. He also raised the issue of Iranians held in U.S. prisons, suggesting the Americans' release might be drawn out to bring attention to inmates Iran wants freed.
In a case that has added to the acrimony and deep distrust between Iran and the U.S., Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, both 29, were detained along the Iran-Iraq border in July 2009 with their friend Sarah Shourd. Shourd was released last September with mediation by the Gulf nation of Oman after $500,000 was paid.
The two men were convicted of illegally entering Iran and spying for the United States, and were sentenced to a total of eight years in prison each.
They denied the charges and appealed the verdicts, opening the way for the possible deal to free them in exchange for $500,000 bail each.
Salehi said at a news conference that Iran's judiciary was ready to commute the sentences as a gesture of Islamic mercy. But he did not give any clearer indication of when they could be released.
"The judiciary's decision is to commute (the Americans') punishment," the foreign minister said. "We expect the judiciary to make its decision in the near future."
Look to the sky to see porcine flyers.

Read it all



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