Cal Grad Hikers Freed from Prison in Iran

The two UC Berkeley grads who were arrested on charges of espionage while hiking in Iran have been released after more than two years in prison.

Their sentences commuted, Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer were released on bail of $500,000 each and flown out of the country Wednesday. 

Shourd and family members of Bauer and Fattal greeted the two men
in Muscat, Oman, according to a statement issued by the three families.

"Today can only be described as the best day of our lives," the families said in a statement. "We have waited for nearly 26 months for this moment and the joy and relief we feel at Shane and Josh's long-awaited freedom knows no bounds."

The two hikers have been detained for 782 days, and in a move that shocked their families and supporters. 

"We now all want nothing more than to wrap Shane and Josh in our arms, catch up on two lost years and make a new beginning, for them and for all of us," the families said.

The last direct contact family members had with Bauer and Fattal was in May 2010 when their mothers were permitted a short visit in Tehran.

Since her release last year, Shourd has lived in Oakland. Bauer proposed marriage to Shroud while in prison, and returns to the U.S. as her fiancé. 

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said in a statement, "It is so wonderful that Shane and Josh are finally coming home to be reunited with their loved ones. But I deeply regret that their release has taken so long. Shane and Josh have been forced to pay too great a price by the Iranian government."

The Iranian attorney for the two men, Masoud Shafiei, obtained the signatures of two judges on a bail-for-freedom deal. As soon as the paperwork for their release was completed, the two men were free to go. They were released at around 4:30 a.m. PST.

"I have finished the job that I had to do as their lawyer," Shafiei said. 

There is no information yet about who paid the million-dollar bail. 

Fattal and Bauer, both 29, say they had been hiking northern Iraq's Kurdish region when they veered off a dirt road and accidentally strayed over the unmarked border with Iran.

A third UC Berkeley grad, Sarah Shourd, was also arrested, and released on bail last year due to her poor health. Shourd announced in May that she would not return to Iran for a trial because she is suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. All three have maintained their innocence and denied the espionage charges against them. 

The Swiss Embassy represented U.S. interests in Iran and had been acting as an intermediary, according to U.S. State Department officials, because there is no American embassy in Iran. 

“I want to be perfectly clear: Sarah, Shane and Josh have never worked for the United States government," President Obama said last year in a statement on the "unjust detention" of the three Americans. "They are simply open-minded and adventurous young people who represent the best of America, and of the human spirit. They are teachers, artists, and advocates for social and environmental justice.” 

The detention of the two hikers has deepened mistrust between Washington and Tehran during the ongoing standoff over Iran's nuclear aspirations.

Last week, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Bauer and Fattal would be freed "in a couple of days" as a humanitarian gesture. Ahmadinejad was expected to arrive for his annual trip to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Monday with the hikers in tow. However, the Iranian judiciary immediately rejected a swift release on bail, saying the matter was under review. The mixed signals represented and internal rift between Ahmadinejad and Iran's judiciary — directly controlled by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The official explanation for the delay in their possible release was that the second judge needed to sign the bail papers was on vacation until Tuesday, according to Shafiei.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy group, issued a statement Wednesday welcoming the release of the pair but said the U.S. government should now "address the issue of Iranian citizens detained in the U.S. with the same spirit of compassion that resulted in the release of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal."

Bay City News contributed to this report.