Iran summons freed U.S. woman for trial


Xinhua, February 1, 2011

The Iranian judiciary spokeman said Monday that an American woman, who was arrested by Tehran and freed on bail, has been summoned by an Iranian court for trial, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Sarah Shourd, the American hiker released from detention in Iran after 410 days, addresses a press conference in New York on September 19, 2010. Shourd, freed on bail last year, has been summoned for trial in Iran along with her two American friends who remain in custody, the prosecutor general said on Januray 31, 2011.[Xinhua]

The female U.S. hiker Sarah Shourd and two fellows, Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, were arrested in July 2009 for illegally entering Iran. Shourd was released on bail of around 500,000 U.S. dollars last year due to her health condition, while Fattal and Bauer remained jailed in Tehran.

Shourd has been summoned by the Islamic Revolutionary Court to attend a trial session scheduled on Feb. 6, IRNA quoted the judiciary spokeman General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei as saying.

The three were charged with espionage. Ejei said last November that Iran would put Fattal and Bauer on trial after Shourd was brought back to Iran.

The U.S. government renounced the charges as unfounded.