A Verdict May Soon Be Issued for One of the Persons
Tehran, Dec. 21, 09 (Hamsayeh.Net) - Today, Iran’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the case of the three US citizens arrested while crossing the Iraqi border into Iran in late July. The Statement said the court verdict may soon be issued for one of the individuals, Iran’s Press TV website reports. The statement did not mention the name of that person.
‘The case of the three Americans who illegally entered Iran is under review by the judiciary,’ Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told journalists during his visit in Lebanon. ‘The investigation of one of them is finished and the court will soon issue its verdict regarding this person,’ Mottaki added.
Iranian officials already cited that the trio were charged for their illegal entry across the border. In late July this year, three young Americans, Shane Bauer 27, Joshua Felix Fattal 27 and Sarah Emily 31 crossed from Iraq into Iran at a checkpoint near the town of Marivan in Kurdistan Province. The trio claim that they are close friends and were hiking in the area at the time, unaware that they had actually crossed the border.
In 2002 Iraq was invaded by tens of thousands of US military personnel as well as tens of thousand of private military contractors, performing various tasks for the US military under a civilian cover. The area around the Kurdistan region inside Iraq could be considered as a dangerous place for non-natives to go about pleasure hiking.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appealed for the release of the Americans ‘…we appeal to the Iranian leadership to release these three young people as soon as possible.'
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