2 Hikers Held In Iran Face Trial Wednesday
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Two American men held in Iran for nearly 2 years will go on trial in the Tehran Revolutionary Court this week on charges of espionage.
U.S. authorities and the families of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal have repeatedly called for their release, insisting they were on a hiking trip in Kurdistan, the semi-autonomous region in the north of Iraq, when they were arrested by Iranian soldiers on July 31, 2009.
Bauer's fiancee, Sarah Shourd, was also arrested, but was released from Iranian custody on $500,000 bail in September. Shourd says she's suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and will not return to Iran for trial.
The families of Bauer and Fattal say "the charges they face are as cynical, unjust and unreasonable as the length of their incarceration." Bauer is a native of Onamia, Minn. Fattal grew up in Pennsylvania.
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